The Gods of Convexity
by Onyxsun51
Summary: Spyro's time is over, but now his son must face the trials of a purple dragon.  As a mysterious cult begins to emerge in Warfang, and signs of the end of the world plague the minds of many, only a select few will be able to stop the coming destruction.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright so the only real thing that I have to say is that this story comes after a previous one I wrote called The Seven Dragons of Darkness. In case you are wondering it is probably not necessary that you read it, but if you do you will understand a few of the characters and elements in this story better, although like I said it isn't completely necessary that you read it. If you choose to do so here is a link: .net/s/5771584/1/The_Seven_Dragons_of_Darkness**

**With all of that out of the way I hope you all enjoy this story. Please R&R.**

Taelas muffled a sigh as he ran a jet black talon through the burnt earth below his body. He lay on the edge of a volcano in the middle of the Burned Lands. The sundered environment that currently surrounded him always put him in a bad mood, every year that he came to the place it was the same. The skies turned blood red and the earth was just crumbled black stones, it was as if the whole place had been doused with fire. Of course if it were up to him he would never step his paw in the place again. The Burned Lands were a blight on the planet.

Taelas forced himself to stop his talon from scratching in the dirt, and he turned his attention back to his father, who was sitting before him. His father, Spyro, the legendary purple dragon, who had slain Malefor, and his lieutenants, years ago. The purple dragon was still speaking, while Cynder, Taelas' mother, lay next to him listening, and occasionally speaking herself.

Taelas' purple eyes scanned across, past his parents, and on to the others who were lined up before him. Next to Cynder, was a golden dragon and a dark red dragoness. Aegis and Azshea respectively, were the parents of one of Taelas' best friends, Syra. They had both been friends with Spyro and Cynder, since before he was born.

A little further another grown dragon stood. This one had icy blue scales, and held himself with a certain air that made even Taelas stop to stare at him. The dragon's name was Icryious. The blue drake caught Taelas' eye, and tilted his head slightly so he could look at the dragon better. Taelas shrugged at the dragon, and Icryious returned the dull look. He was a guardian in Warfang, but even he still found this event rather boring. The blue dragon cracked a small smile, as even he knew that the event was all almost over. Taelas returned the subtle look before shifting his eyes again down the line to the last dragoness that was among the adults.

This one had always sent a chill down Taelas' spine. Her scales were jet black. Her eyes a deep crimson color, which pierced anything that she stared at. Taelas only ever saw her during this day, the day that had become tradition among all of them. He knew that her name was Solris, and she was in fact one of the seven dragons that his father had fought against. Although, according to the story she had switched sides and chosen to help Spyro and the others, instead of fight them.

The young purple dragon must have been drifting off into his thoughts, because a moment later he felt a sharp slap on his paw. Taelas didn't visibly react to the touch he just slowly turned his head, so that he could view his sister who had just tapped him. The dragoness was lying next to him, her emerald eyes were slits as she stared at him with contempt. Taelas wasn't surprised the ice dragoness did this every year when he began to drift off. Unlike Taelas, Aria had a great sense of respect for the story that was told on this day. Whereas Taelas drifted off into his own thoughts Aria stayed at attention throughout the entire story, a feat which Taelas had not achieved in at least ten years.

The dragoness leaned over to her older brother, and in a whisper said, "Taelas, please try to pay attention. We gather here for a reason every year, so we can pass this story down, to our children. It is our parent's legacy after all."

"Why don't they just write it down in a book then?" Taelas retorted, as softly as he could.

"I'm not arguing about this now, just try to pay attention." Aria said, silencing her brother as she leaned back away from him.

Taelas turned back to Spyro in an effort to listen. The purple dragon was spouting off the end of the story, the part which Taelas used to be the fondest of when he was a young whelp. He was recounting the group's last fight, against a dragon known as Astir, the last of Malefor's lieutenants. He had used an artifact known as the Scale of Raknos, to empower himself, and now he had to be stopped, and so as was every year the dragons each spoke their part telling the story from all of their perspectives, in order for the younger dragons to get the whole story.

"Astir fell back into the crater of lava, the same one that sits behind us now." Spyro said nodded back to the volcano, which bubbled behind him.

"None of us knew what to do." Aegis added.

"We just-

"Stood there. You all stood in silence." Taelas said, interrupting his father. As the dragon spoke all eyes turned to him, and for a moment Taelas shut his mouth as he met the gazes with his own eyes. "One of you, I believe it was you, mom," Taelas continued pointing a lone talon to Cynder. "You wondered if Astir was dead or not."

Cynder nodded after a moment, confirming Taelas' assumption. The black dragoness was taken aback, of all fourteen years that this story had been told Taelas, and the others had never interrupted. Nonetheless Cynder said nothing, perhaps her son was just showing that he knew the story, but more likely he was making it clear that he was tired of this annual event.

"Spyro reassured you, and everything went off without a hitch. The seven dragons of darkness were dead, and everyone got a happy ending." Taelas finished giving his father a small smile.

Spyro eyed his son looking him over very thoroughly before he spoke up again. "Yes, it's been twenty-nine years since that day. Twenty-nine years of peace, and we pray to the ancestors that the peace continues for yet another year."

As the purple dragon said those words it seemed to be like some sort of sign as the silence was broken as all of the dragon's stood up, and began to mill about and stretch their limbs. The story took at least a few hours to tell, and the whole time no one moved, but now they were free to stretch their limbs.

As Taelas got to his paws, and began to stretch he noticed all of the adults beginning to congregate. He watched, and just as Spyro and Cynder turned their eyes away, Taelas felt his paws get thrown out from under him, and he dropped to the ground like a stone.

The violet scaled dragon shook his head, and growled low, while he pushed himself back up. Turning to his sister he glared at her. "Why did you do that?" He asked in low growl.

"Why did you do that?" Aria asked equally as angry. "Are you that impatient that you cannot put aside one day a year to listen to a story about how your parents nearly single handedly saved this planet?"

"Lose the attitude Aria, I don't need lessons from you, about good behavior." Taelas said already growing tired of the argument.

"No Taelas! Not this time." The dragoness said trying as hard as she could to keep her voice down. Before the purple dragon knew it she was only a few inches from his face, so close that he could feel her breath. "What is it, what's wrong? I know you, you don't act like this." The dragoness continued the edge in her voice suddenly gone.

The purple drake didn't say anything for what seemed like a life-time. "Nothing's wrong Aria, did it ever occur to you that I was just quoting the story I've heard all my life."

Aria said nothing, and neither did Taelas the two just stood there in silence.

"Are you two kissing or something?" A sarcastic voice said, from behind Aria. "Because if you are that's just weird." It was then that both of the siblings noticed how close to each other they were, and each immediately took a few steps back.

The crimson dragoness who had spoken only a moment ago stepped up next to Aria, and looked from the girl to Taelas, and back again. "Strange, I don't remember you two ever having a sibling rivalry." Syra said breaking the silence once more.

"We don't." Aria said bluntly. "I was just talking to Taelas about his little outburst earlier."

"It wasn't an outburst, now drop it Aria." Taelas grunted, with disdain.

"Sorry I brought it up; maybe we should just change the topic." Syra said, sensing the obvious tension between the two.

"Feel free to talk about anything you want." Taelas said as he turned on paw, and walked away from the two.

"He's just moody, don't let him bother you." Aria said, making no effort to hide her comment from her brother.

Taelas ignored his sister, and walked over to the edge of the volcano, away from the two conversing dragoness'. He stared down at the lava below, the heat almost too intense for him to stay where he was, but he didn't move, too wrapped up in his thoughts to care about the overwhelming warmth. As he stared down, he thought about the story his father had retold him so often. This was where part of Spyro's legacy had been played out. Every purple dragon was said to do great things, but what was there to do. Taelas looked down at his paw, and the dark violet scales that covered it. He was at a loss; most prophecies said that a purple dragon was born when there was a need for one, in order to keep the peace in the world.

Taelas was nineteen years old, and he had lived a normal life. He trained almost every day, and lived in Warfang. Spyro had been hatched into danger, and had defeated Malefor when he was only a year or two younger than Taelas was now. After that adventure, Spyro had fought right at this very spot saving the world yet again. Taelas had done nothing heroic on any scale, but instead he got to listen to his father recount his tale as if making it more obvious that Taelas himself had done nothing extra-ordinary.

As the purple drake stood deep in his thoughts, his father walked up behind him. "Taelas?" He asked his voice deep, yet still soft.

"Ya?" The dragon said after a few moments.

"We're leaving now." Spyro said plainly. A moment later the large purple dragon placed a paw on Taelas shoulder and turned him around with his great paw. "Taelas, are you alright?" He asked arching a brow. Spyro had been fathering the boy for nineteen years, and he knew when something was wrong, this was definitely one of those times. Often though that didn't matter, Taelas had always wanted to deal with things on his own, and rarely divulged any information.

"Nothing, just." Taelas paused for a moment, thoughts flying through his mind. "Nothing." He finished.

"Are you s-

Spyro was interrupted as Taelas spread his bluish black mesh wings, and leapt into the air, darting away as swiftly as he could. The purple dragon watched from the ring of the volcano as his son flew away into the late afternoon sky. As he watched Cynder came up next to him, so silently that Spyro almost jumped when she spoke. "What did he say?" She asked.

"He said, it was nothing." Spyro responded, after a moment. Cynder sighed, as she leaned against her mate, who readily supported her lithe form. "Perhaps he is just growing up, he isn't five anymore."

"Perhaps." Spyro said after a moment. "Come on let's go. Aria we're leaving!" The purple dragon called to his daughter, who quickly said her goodbyes to Syra and the others before striding over.

Taelas stepped out of his house in Warfang. The purple dragon lived in what had been the house of all of the elder dragons. Terrodar, Cyril, and Volteer had passed away only six years ago, one after the other quickly dying out. Taelas had grown up with them as uncles. He had liked all of them, but he had no true connection to them. However their passing did sadden everyone, Spyro the most. When the dragons had passed away they had left their home to Spyro, as he was like a son to them.

The building had more than enough room for the four of them. Each of the rooms was lavishly decorated with rugs, plants, and pieces of furniture, mostly plush pillows. Needless to say, the family was well off living there. Taelas thought nothing of the inside of the house now though as he stepped into the warm spring evening air. Taking a moment to enjoy the atmosphere the dragon simply stood in the cobblestone street, and enjoyed the quiet. After a day of listening to the adults retell an entire adventure it felt good to hear nothing at all.

His mood growing better by the moment, the purple drake proceeded down the street, and around to another section of their land where a fairly large training area had been assembled. It was walled off, and meant only for their family, but Spyro often opened it up to anyone who wanted to use it. Tonight though, it was empty, as Taelas entered, walking around all of the wooden obstacle course structures. Off to his left was a descent sized training field for sparring.

The dragon had not come outside specifically to train that night though, as he felt that he had no real fight in him. He was mostly there for the peace of the silent air. He did go through a few attack sequences on some of the exercise dummies, although he was hardly trying, and his movements appeared sluggish even to him as he batted at the dummies.

"I hope that you aren't that slow in actual combat." A soft voice said, breaking the silence.

Taelas sighed audibly and hung his head, as he turned to face his sister with tired eyes; it wasn't that he didn't want to see her, or that he was angry, the purple dragon was just worn out, and in no mood to talk. Aria ignored her brother's displeasure, and closed the gap between them, her dark blue scales shining in the twilight sky.

"You don't look happy to see me?" The dragoness said with a small, but playful smile.

"It's been a long day." Taelas said, not buying into the dragoness' cheeriness.

Aria's smile abruptly vanished as she stopped a few feet from her brother. The ice dragoness could tell just by looking at him that something was wrong, jus the same as earlier that afternoon. She had a certain sense about her, as if she knew whenever he was being bothered by something. Growing up together Taelas had tried again and again to be secretive and quiet, but every time Aria knew what was going on.

"Are you angry at me?" The dragoness asked bluntly. When Taelas only stared at her she cocked an eyebrow, and motioned to him as if asking silently for him to answer.

"This has nothing to do with you." Taelas answered finally.

"So, it's all about you then." Aria said. The dragoness shook her head, and almost laughed to herself. "I'm hardly surprised."

"What does that mean?" Taelas asked, in a growl, his little amount of patience wearing thin.

"Oh please Taelas," The dragoness laughed. "I swear it seems like every day you have a new problem, and they always relate back to you."

"That's not true, and you know it." Taelas said his eyes boring into the dragoness.

"Just tell me what it is then; it can't be that bad can it, besides you tell me everything eventually. All you can do is try to prolong it."

"Forget it Aria, this isn't your problem, and you don't have any insight on the situation." Taelas said turning away from the ice dragoness.

"Is it about dad?"

The comment struck Taelas. Was it that obvious; or did Aria really know him that well. The purple drake stopped in place, the question making him take pause. He didn't know what to say, what he even could say. The moments just passed in silence.

"Aria, I just-

Taelas stopped speaking in mid-sentence, his eyes coming to rest on something that was behind Aria, a large dragon.

"What?" Aria asked confused by Taelas' sudden pause.

Taelas didn't respond, but instead walked a little past his sister, to get a better view of the dragon. His scales were a dull yellow color, and he wore a large layered blue crest. In the quick look the purple dragon got of the adult he noticed only one thing that was peculiar about him. He wore a strange mark on his right shoulder. It looked like a scar, or a burn mark, of a full orb, with one side of the circle covered in wavy spikes as if it was a sun, and the other half of the circle portrayed the craters of a moon.

While Taelas eyed the mysterious dragon, who was still yet to speak, Aria had turned around as well.

"Oh, hi." The dragoness said happily. "Did you come here to use the training course?" The yellow dragon did not respond, but instead continued to stare at Taelas, his eyes had been locked on the purple dragon since he had first shown up.

"Who are you?" Taelas asked a moment later his voice edgy.

After a moment of staring Taelas up and down, the drake seemed to snap out of his trance. "My name is of no importance to you." The dragon responded finally.

"Then why are you here?" Taelas asked the edge in his voice growing more apparent with each word he spoke.

"Why, I came here to find you of course." The dragon said with a laugh as though the answer was completely obvious. "Would you like to come with me on a little journey?"

Taelas didn't respond he just gave the dragon a heated glare. Meanwhile Aria felt chills in her body as the mysterious dragon spoke, his voice was shrill and almost painful to her ears. She didn't like this, something wasn't right.

"Why do you want Taelas to come with you, we don't even know you." Aria finally blurted out when she saw that neither of the others would speak.

"Aria, stay out of this." Taelas said spreading one of his dark meshed wings wide to cover his sister from view.

"Taelas what are you doing?" Aria asked, in a panicked tone.

"Something is off about this. I don't want you getting hurt." The purple dragon whispered, while never taking his eyes off of the other adult. "If anything happens promise me you'll run home."

Taelas didn't see his sister nod, he didn't have to. He knew that she would do what he said. Since they were little Aria had always known what Taelas was thinking but Taelas had always protected her. He had steered her out of danger more than once and kept her safe even more. So when Taelas told her to be ready to run the dragoness knew what she would end up doing.

"I suppose it would be laughable to take a purple dragon with such a simple scheme." The adult said chuckling to himself.

"I asked you to tell me who you are? If you won't answer then I think we'll be on our way." Taelas said flatly.

"I don't think you are going anywhere. You, my little purple friend are too important to let go." The dragon chuckled as he slowly began to creep forward.

"Aria get out of here right now." Taelas said as he lowered himself into an easy fighting position.

"But what about you?" The dragoness asked. Taelas turned his face portraying anger and impatience, he had expected he to just go, but she had yet to budge.

"What did I tell you?" He asked as he was almost yelling now.

Suddenly, there was a crackle of lightning, and the ground below Taelas paws exploded sending the dragon a few feet through the air before landing roughly on the ground, pelted with tiny pebbles of brown stone. He could hear his sister's cry, but it seemed far away as he struggled to steady his senses. With a deep roar, the purple dragon slammed the ground as he rose back up, sending the portion of earth beneath Aria up, and launching the dragoness into the air.

"I said go!" Taelas yelled, before he darted forward charging headlong at the dragon.

Aria would have to be told again, wrenching her eyes away from the ensuing battle the dragoness turned and cut through the air back to her house. All the way she cursed herself for not being strong enough to stay.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Taelas ducked down almost falling to the ground in order to narrowly avoid a swipe of the adult's claws. Always light on his paws the dragon's muscles tensed as he pushed himself into a sideways roll, coming back up on the dragon's flank. Not one to waste opportunity, Taelas opened his maw wide, and released a torrent of flame which spiraled towards its target unimpeded.

The fires washed over the large drake searing his scales, and forcing him to take a few steps back until he was out of the main stream of the blaze. As soon as he could, the dragon conjured his own energy; lightning crackling at his teeth the dragon spat the energy forward, the lightning cutting through Taelas' fires.

The violet dragon hardly had time to react as he did his best to raise a crude barrier of earth. The yellow energy collided with the barrier sending a spray of stone, and sparks flying through the area. Taelas extended his wings, and backpedaled through the air once in order to avoid the majority of the shrapnel. As his talons touched the ground again a moment later, and Taelas pushed off charging into the air as gracefully as a dragon could. He knew that the other dragon would be following him, he could hear the sounds of his large leathery wings beating against the atmosphere as he rose off the ground.

Taelas turned in mid-flight to face the dragon, hovering in the air beating his wings only a few times to stay aloft. As the lightning dragon gained speed, and headed for him, Taelas suddenly stopped beating his wings, and fell into a dive. Falling back past the dragon, Taelas reached out his onyx claws, and sliced through the dragon's mottled orange wing. The young drake's claws cut six slits down the material, each big enough to throw off a dragon's aerial balance. With the dragon's wing torn to shreds Taelas used the momentary stop in his momentum to latch onto the dragon's shoulder. Once he had a grip he took no time in beginning to tear through the dragon's scales.

Before he could do any real damage though Taelas felt a sharp tug on his tail as the adult pulled him down, and tossed him through the air. The violet dragon sped towards the earth for mere seconds before crashing violently into the ground. His vision blacked for a moment as he lay on the ground. With a groan Taelas pulled himself very slowly back to his feet. He noted through blurry eyes that the large dragon had not done much better than him at landing and was still working his way up. Forcing his legs to move Taelas stumbled over to the still down dragon, and posed his spiked razor tail over the dragon's neck, holding it steady only centimeters away from the dragon's neck.

"What are you doing here? Who are you?" Taelas asked, through heavy breaths.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Go on, kill me, it won't save you." The dragon smiled, showing a devilish grin.

A moment passed between the two before Taelas shrugged. "Fine, you brought this upon yourself." Taelas answered, not a shred of remorse in his voice. The purple dragon raised his tail blade, and the adult's eyes widened in fear. He had expected the younger dragon not to act so rashly.

"What's going on here?"

His father's voice made Taelas' tail stop inches above the dragon's neck. Taelas turned in surprise to see his father near to the entrance of the training area Aria, standing right next to him. Taelas only saw them for a moment before he was knocked to the ground by the opposing dragon, who then quickly scrambled to his paws and leapt into the air, flying away into the darkening sky.

Spyro ignored the dragon, and quickly ran up to his son, quickly helping him up. Spyro opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by the younger dragon.

"What are you doing?" Taelas spat. "I had him, he couldn't escape, I could have killed him then and there."

"Are you okay?" The large purple dragon asked, bending his neck around to view Taelas from all sides.

"Ya, I'm fine, but the dr-

"Who was he?" Spyro asked ignoring his son's apparent anger.

Taelas was suddenly at a loss for words as he didn't know what to say. "I..I don't know. He wouldn't tell me."

"And you were just going to kill him?" Spyro asked, he was trying to remain calm, but was obviously failing to do so.

"I gave him ample opportunity to tell me." Taelas argued. "Besides he wasn't going to let us leave. He attacked me; he wanted me to go with him!" Taelas yelled trying to justify his actions.

Spyro paused for a moment, staring down at his fuming son. "And this justifies killing?"

"Why not, he tri-

"I know what he tried to do, but you are still in no position to kill someone, Taelas." Spyro interrupted.

The young purple drake didn't say anything; he just glared at his father his anger boiling just below his scales.

"You have no right to kill anyone. If something like this happens you come and find me. If you cannot do that, then you defend yourself, but never threaten to kill anyone." The dragon said sternly, his voice so low that it even sent a few shivers down Taelas' spine. "Are we clear?" Spyro asked after a moment.

"Yes." Taelas said after a long pause, and with that Taelas turned away from his father, unable to look him in the eye any longer.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Kind of a long update, sorry about that. Hopefully, it turned out okay as I rushed myself a bit to get it done. One thing I forgot to say in the first chapter was that this is rated T for violence and mild cursing. Finally, thank you to all the people that viewed/reviewed it is very appreciated.**

Xranik read the last sentence in the small leather bound tome that he held in his hand. "Regardless, I will never research the topic again, for it is not meant to be known." The dragon said out loud quoting the book. Xranik gently closed the book between his sharp talons, and laughed quietly to himself. "Truly you were a fool, uncle." He said to himself.

As the dragon considered what he had just read over another dragon viewed him from the sky. A yellow scaled drake circled through the air above. Seeing his leader below the dragon dropped down swooping through a hole in the surrounding foliage. Valas landed causing massive gust of wind that swept through the glade. Xranik never faltered as the wind burst around him, he instead continued to stare off into the trees, and the surrounding darkness that was steadily covering the land.

"Back so soon?" Xranik asked, turning to face the dragon after a moment. The golden dragon opened his mouth to respond, but Xranik cut him off. "Beaten and bruised, and seemingly unable to form an argument." Taking a pause to look to the right and let of the dragon Xranik added. "And alone I see."

"I had unforeseen difficulties with the dragon." Valas said eyeing the black scaled dragon with annoyance.

"Taelas, the nineteen year old whelp?" Xranik asked quizzically.

"A purple dragon." Valas said putting emphasis on the words.

"Regardless, I asked you to do one thing, a simple task by my standards, bring Spyro's son to me." Xranik said, stepping forward.

"I think you underestimate the young one's prowess." Valas said eyeing Xranik, no fear to be seen in his eyes.

"I underestimate nothing!" The dragon spat. "You told me you would bring me the dragon, he is essential!" Xranik roared in a sudden fit of rage.

Valas, still unimpeded by the dragon's sudden outburst waited for more than a few seconds before responding in a calm voice, "And I will bring him, I promise you that. Besides even if things had gone according to plan, Spyro showed up, there was no way I could have made it away alive with his son."

Xranik suddenly stood up very straight his eyes widening, and his pupils turning to slits. "Did you say that Spyro saw you?" The dragon asked his voice trembling, with anger or fear Valas could not tell.

Valas realized that that he had made a mistake, and began to fumble with his words, speaking indecipherably. Xranik would have none of it though, and with sinister speed the dragon slapped Valas across his maw, his talons digging into the dragon's scales, and drawing blood. Valas' head swept to the side as he blinked away the pain, but not once did her step back, and after a moment he brought his eyes back to Xranik's a scowl across his features.

"That dragon is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing down Cynder, Malefor, and his followers." Xranik said in a dangerously low growl. "Those triumphs occurred when he was young, now he is an adult, and still relatively close to his full power, if he learns of us he will surely kill us."

"Shut it Xranik." Valas said, his cool demeanor gone. "We are equals, so stop talking to me like I am a child." Valas said. "You think that I don't know what Spyro would do if he found us out. I know the consequences; I don't need to be reminded. I'll get Taelas, end of story."

Xranik stared at the dragon hard, his green eyes scanning Valas' figure up and down, from his pointed white horns down to his talons. After a moment he backed away, giving each of them some breathing room, which they both desperately needed.

"Perhaps you would like to tell me why you so desperately need this purple dragon. You sent me off without a reason for taking him, and now I want to know, why? Stealing Spyro's son is not a light business matter." Valas asked as he wiped some of the blood off of his face with his paw.

"We need him; we need him for his power." Xranik began. "Any purple dragon is known to have overwhelming amounts of power stored within their body. Some even say that, it is the power that colors their scales purple. The darker the color the more power they hold." Xranik explained.

Valas thought back to when he had seen Taelas. The young dragon's scales were almost black, they were so dark. "That dragon's scales are almost black." Valas explained.

"Exactly." Xranik said with a wicked grin. "We need him for that power; it is the only way that we could open a portal to convexity."

"A portal?" Valas asked his brow rising in confusion. "You plan to go there yourself?" He asked.

Xranik laughed at the absurdity of the question. "I do not plan to go in, I plan for them to come out."

Valas thought for a split second about the dragon's statement before his eyes widened. "The gods." He said his voice barely audible. Although the cult that both dragons lead was in complete servitude to the gods of convexity, they were hardly mentioned. There was very little knowledge of them so speaking of summoning them sounded insane to the sunny-scaled dragon.

Xranik nodded silently, and tossed the leather book to Valas, who caught it. "This tome is our guide. Read it. With the knowledge we gain from it this world will be taken by their claw and toppled, and from the ashes we will form a new empire."

Valas pried his eyes from the tome, and looked back to Xranik who was walking away stretching his wings. "Where are you going?" Valas asked the dragon's movements having caught his attention.

"I have to go to the academy for additional research, I'll return shortly. While I'm gone go ahead and indulge." The dragon said pointing to the tome that Valas held. The yellow dragon nodded as Xranik leapt from the ground spreading his grey wings, and flying away.

Not seeing anyone else in the thicket, Valas lay down, and opened the tome. If Xranik was telling the truth and this book really did contain what he claimed, then Valas had to see it, had to learn it. As the dragon lifted the cover of the book and went to turn the first page, but stopped. Letting the cover fall he reached out his claw to a crumpled piece of parchment that lay on the grass beside him. He hadn't noticed it until now, and assumed that when Xranik had flown away, the wind had blown it over to him.

The dragon picked up the paper, and flattened it out being careful not to puncture it with his talons. Inscribed on the inside was a note, glancing down to the bottom Valas saw that it was signed, Archimedes, who, by common knowledge, Valas knew to be Xranik's uncle. Curious he began to read it.

_To whom it may concern,_

_If you are reading this note then you have found or stolen my most precious, and secret research. Inside this tome lies knowledge that was never meant for dragons to examine. I implore that you destroy this book now. I would have done it myself, but alas I fear that I take too much pride in my work, and despite the dangers of this knowledge I could not bring myself to destroy it. It seems heinous to do so, with all of the trouble that I went through to obtain it. So I ask again that you, reader, burn this tome, do what I could not, for the world will be better without it._

_-Archimedes_

Valas stared at the noted for a few moments, never blinking before he turned back to the tome which he still held in his other claw. The words sounded sincere in the note, which made Valas wonder what dangerous knowledge this book contained. The way that Xranik had spoken about it gave him a clue, but he decided he would never know until he read it, and so with one long talon he opened the book.

The note that Valas had just read had lead him to believe that he would find some great discovery on the next page, but instead he found one word written boldly across the page, "Convexity"

The yellow dragon cocked an eyebrow in confusion, and again flipped forward through the book. Across the next few pages were various sketches and notes, pictures of portals, dragons, signets, ritual signs, and other things that Valas only knew about vaguely.

Flipping past the notes, and drawings Valas came to something that made much more sense. Archimedes had kept a log of whatever he had done. Up in the corner he noticed a date, placing this journal to be years ago, before even Malefor had fallen by the purple dragon's claw. Before he could read the log though, Valas eyed the note which he still held in his left paw. With only a moment's hesitation he crumpled up the paper, and tossed it to the ground before focusing his attention on the writing again. He couldn't just destroy what he assumed to be a wealth of knowledge especially not when it obviously meant something to Xranik.

Archimedes studied the large book that lay on the table before him. The dragon had been tirelessly flipping the pages for days now, rarely taking any breaks to eat or sleep. "Convexity." The dragon murmured. "The airlock between our world, and the dark realms. A great power that holds back the darkness, keeping it from overwhelming our realm."

The green scaled dragon continued to ponder the statements silently now, as he gently tapped a claw on the wood before him. Archimedes sat in his study, his own personal safe haven. The room was constructed of cobblestone, but the floor had mostly been covered in fine and expensive rugs. The walls were lined with shelves which held what most would assume was thousands of scrolls and books of all kinds. On the walls were small wooden pedestals which were covered in a green glowing fungus, which lit the room, if only a little bit. Open flames were too dangerous to keep all around the room, so instead one candle stood on Archimedes desk. Standing on the other side of the dimly lit study was another dragon who watched Archimedes with seeming interest.

After letting a few moments pass, the young dragon spoke up. "Sir, if I may, why the sudden interest in convexity?"

Archimedes turned his head to face the other dragon, his apprentice. He said nothing he just eyed the dragon, not with mild disdain, but instead of saying anything he only stared at the young dragon as if asking for him to continue.

"It's just that, everything that we can find tells us the same thing. All of our knowledge tells us that convexity is just a barrier between the dark realms, and here. There isn't anything to it, just an empty void. Not to mention that only a select few have ever been there" The apprentice explained.

Archimedes chuckled as the younger dragon finished speaking. "I know all of that as well as you do."

"Then why do you insist on studying convexity, you're just wasting your time." The dragon blurted his patience fading.

Archimedes shook his head slowly. "No, I am not wasting my time, or at least not yet. You know as well as I that Malefor still rules this planet. I aim to find a way to stop him; convexity's power has been known to be harnessed only through purple dragons, but what if we could find a way to use its power ourselves."

"Fine say that you do uncover the power of convexity, and use its power to defeat Malefor, then what will you do? What will you do when Malefor is dead, and the secret of how to control one of the most powerful energies in the world is known to all?" The apprentice stared at his master for a few moments, but got no response. "It's stupid just forget it. Besides the purple dragon has returned from his three year absence, he'll kill Malefor himself, so just forget it." The apprentice said forcefully.

"Get out of my study." Archimedes said his voice very low.

"What?" The dragon asked sharply.

"Get out of here!" The gilded dragon said again, this time raising his voice. When his apprentice only stood there he added. "For your own safety, I advise that you leave, now." The dragon said putting emphasis on each of the words.

The apprentice glared at his master, the tension obvious. Without a word the dragon spun around in a wide sweep, and exited the room. Archimedes thought nothing of it. He turned back to his research reading through the lines in the book once more.

Valas continued through the journal skimming through the pages, finding that Archimedes seemed to continue his study of convexity, even after Malefor had been slain by Spyro. That reality struck Valas odd, as the dragon had previously claimed that killing Malefor was the reason for his studies. Taking a moment to think about the situation Valas came up with a guess as to why Archimedes continued his study. Just by reading this log any sensible dragon could tell that Archimedes had become infatuated with the subject, near to obsession. Pushing his curious thoughts aside the dragon looked back to the book, and flipped another page, having expected another long entry Valas instead found three words written on the page. "I've done it." A quick glance to the corner told the dragon that this entry had come only a few years before he was born. Continuing along Valas turned the page and read further.

"It was simple all along. You only need enough condensed power to form a rift in this world, which will open a temporary portal to convexity." Archimedes said as he rambled to himself. He had long since stopped thinking to himself, and had begun to think out loud, sometimes even answering his own questions as if he was talking to an imaginary other. "Yes, simple, I can use these crystals to open a portal, to convexity, then once there I can finally harness that power." The dragon said rubbing his paws together in anticipation.

"Are you sure you can do it? What about the stability of the realm?" He asked cocking his head to the side.

"Damn the realm, the power is needed, with it in my possession there is nothing else I need. I'll build a new realm if I have to." The dragon cackled. "There are only three simple steps, one enter convexity, two find the dragons that hold its power and take said power, three leave convexity." The dragon paused in his continuing flurry of thoughts, and looked around the room in quick jerks of his head, eyeing all around. "I must hurry, others could steal my research, but I must be the first."

Archimedes then hurried around the room at a frenzied pace. The dragon threw on a leather satchel that hung loosely over his shoulder. While mumbling indecipherable phrases to himself, the dragon grabbed scrolls and items from all over the room, placing them in the sack. Within moments he was off, Archimedes stepped down the hall as quickly as his old legs could carry him.

The dragon emerged from his house, closing the wooden door behind him with a swish of his tail. Looking around down the dark alleys of Warfang, Archimedes saw no other inhabitants. With a deep breath the dragon opened his bronze wings, and leapt into the air, he was far from young, but he had managed to stay relatively in shape over the course of his long life, although it was safe to say that he was no fighter. The dragon shot up into the starry night sky his leathery wings keeping him aloft in the summer breeze. Within a moment he had located where he would test his experiment, and he darted off in the direction of a large forest that had grown near to Warfang.

The dragon thought of nothing on the flight over, his entire body teemed with excitement as he knew that he was at the culmination of years of planning and researching, tonight he would gain the power of convexity for himself, and use it as he pleased. The dragon took a moment to find a small clearing, into which he descended. Surrounded by large tree trunks and a thick canopy of branches, and leaves the dragon set his satchel down on the ground, and extracted both crystals from it, along with a few scrolls.

After studying the parchment for a few minutes the dragon looked to one of the crystals which he picked up in his paw. He could see the energy that lie within, shifting back and forth under the crystalline prism. Still holding the crystal tightly in this claw, as if it were a child, Archimedes looked back to the scroll. His research had told him that if he broke the crystal, while losing the energy stored within, he would also be able to create a portal to convexity when the crystal shattered.

Taking a moment to steady himself, the dragon firmly grasped the stone in both paws, and broke it in two. There was a large flash of light, and a crackling sound as the power that had been kept within the gem vanished into the air. As the energy disappeared, the air around the dragon began to contort and bend. As the barrier between the realm and convexity reached its breaking point, there was a violent tearing sound, and with a rough gust of wind a large portal opened before the dragon's very eyes.

Archimedes didn't hesitate, knowing that his time to step through the gateway was short. The green scaled dragon felt a sensation as though he was falling, as he made his way through to the other dimension. His vision went black for a moment, and he stumbled around in absolute darkness. Just as panic began to set in, the darkness abruptly dispersed, and the dragon tripped forward falling hard onto the ground.

Archimedes shook his head, and slowly pushed himself back up onto his legs. The drake blinked a few times to clear his vision. When he could finally see clearly the dragon's brown eyes widened. The dragon stood on a flat rock which floated in the middle of what looked like a swirling cosmos. Other pieces of ruin and rock floated through the endless space in no correlation to anything else.

For a few moments the dragon stayed motionless. The idea of being in convexity had been just out of his reach for so long, and now he was here. The dragon jumped to his paws a moment later laughing to himself, so overjoyed with his success that he had no words to depict it. His happiness left him oblivious to everything for the next few minutes, as he walked around on the small pedestal of rock looking out hopefully at convexity.

After his euphoria had worn off the dragon leapt from the stone on which he stood, and flew through the space. His body seemed lighter now, and he hardly had to beat his wings to stay aloft. The dragon continued on for at least a half hour slowly proceeding through the realm. He didn't find much, as all that seemed to be there were floating rocks, and clouds of dust. Despite not finding anything of interest the dragon did find the realm very satisfying, but also strangely eerie. A purplish hue coated everything in convexity with the rich color. Coupled with this there seemed to be no direction as objects seemed to float along their same path until they smashed into something else.

As Archimedes was beginning to give up hope of finding anything in the desolate waste known as convexity, he suddenly saw something appearing before him. There was a tremendous palace laid out across one of the larger earthen shards that floated endlessly through convexity. The palace was made of stone, and the architecture was to Archimedes surprise, both intact and quite ornate.

The dragon touched down at the foot of the building. The front door, made of wood had intricate metal designs splayed across it. Archimedes, ever curious, stopped for a moment to stare at the art work. At first he only admired it in general, but as he stared at it the dragon noted three significant figures. Three dragons were incorporated into the design, the three forming a triangle. Two males at the bottom, one white and the other black, breathing flames which tangled for dominance in the middle. Above the fires was a third figure, this one a dragoness. She was grey in color and seemed to be watching the other two, but acting in no way to stop them, from fighting.

"The gods." Archimedes whispered to himself. The dragon felt a nervous shiver run down his spine. Taking another second to further admire the picture the dragon almost forgot that it was fastened to a door, a door which he quickly stepped through.

Closing the door behind him with his tail the dragon continued on into a central chamber. The room was enormous, stone architecture spanning the length of it, with grey columns arches, engravings, and statues. As the dragon looked around he realized that he was probably in a palace of the gods, which put him on edge. The gods of convexity were only believed in by a select few dragons in the realms. Their existence was challenged to say the least, and many who openly worshiped them were discriminated against, or even chased away. Archimedes proceeded cautiously into the depths of the chamber. At the far end of the room where three statues of dragons, both of the ones on the bottom were identical except for their color, one black, and the other white. Each of them was twice the size of Archimedes, furthering his interest in them, as nearly no dragon grew to that size. Above them both, just as with the engraving on the outside door was a female dragoness. All were statues carved from stone, but they seemed almost lifelike. As the elder dragon approached them the bottom two statues began to glow suddenly bursting to life.

Taking a few nervous steps back Archimedes watched as a thin layer of stone melted away revealing two fully formed dragons beneath, both of which stared at the old dragon with wary eyes, but kept their mouths closed.

As the stone fully melted the black scaled dragon leapt forward landing just in front of Archimedes, who gasped in surprise, taking a few steps back from the monstrously large dragon. The black dragon looked him up, and down with probing red eyes. "Who are you?" He asked quickly, his eyes narrowing as his suspicion grew.

"I-I am A-Archimedes." The golden scaled dragon responded, tripping over his own speech.

"An intruder." The black dragon stated, and he raised a set of deadly looking talons, preparing to lash out at the emerald colored drake.

"N-No, no! I came here to learn." Archimedes pleaded as the onyx dragon's claw came forward.

Archimedes waited with closed eyes expecting to feel the sting of the dragon's blow any second, but it never came. After a few seconds he slowly opened his eyes, to see that the other dragon, the white scaled one, was gripping the other's claw.

"Arum, no. We must give him ample time to explain himself." The white dragon said, his voice sounding almost melodious.

Arum turned to the white dragon, a furious look in his eyes. Ripping his foreleg from the other dragons grip, Arum took a few steps back. As he looked back to Archimedes the dragon suddenly stiffened, afraid of what the black dragon may do. "We will give you time to tell us why you are here, dragon." He said spitting the last word with contempt.

Ignoring the black dragon the white scaled drake approached Archimedes. "My name is Sol, and this is my brother Arum. Excuse him, he has a tendency towards violence." The white dragon said forcing a small smile. Arum snorted black flames from his nostrils, the fires spreading out across the floor before disappearing.

"Go on tell us who you are, why you are here. I swear Arum won't hurt you." Sol said, and from behind him Arum let out a small laugh, as he seemed to find that assumption absurd.

"My name is Archimedes." The green dragon said after a few silent moments passed. "I am from the realms, the city of Warfang to be exact."

Sol opened his maw to say something, but Arum stole the words from his mouth. "And why have you come here?" He asked his tone curious now but he still seemed no less dangerous.

"I came to…to…" Archimedes stuttered with his words unsure if he should reveal his true plan or not. Would these dragons stop him, help him, or just not care. If Archimedes was correct then they were the gods of convexity, but he could not be sure. Even so he had no real choice other than to tell them why he was here.

Arum had apparently become tired of waiting as he shook his head, and reared forward. "Spit it out dragon!" The onyx drake yelled, the sound shaking the very walls.

"I came here to harness the power of convexity." Archimedes said, quickly, running his words together.

At the notion both Arum and Sol looked to each other, surprise written clearly on their features. For what seemed like a long time no one spoke. Arum and Sol seemed to be considering what the dragon had said, as no one had ever spoken of the topic to them before. They very rarely got any visitors, Archimedes being the first in centuries.

"Is there a problem?" Archimedes asked after a while, the silence had been driving him mad, and he had to know what the two were thinking.

"Only a purple dragon can wield convexity, and in a rare case others may wield it." Sol explained.

"No, there has to be a way." Archimedes said angrily.

"There is not." Sol said. "If you tried to absorb the powers of convexity into your body you would simply fall apart."

"We can try it on you if you really think you really want." Arum said with a wicked grin.

"Only a purple dragon…" Archimedes murmured. "Impossible." The dragon said as the reality began to sink in that he had wasted years of his life on futile research.

"Hardly. Did you really think that you, a normal dragon could control such an energy?" Arum asked. When he got no response he simply continued on. "Too bad I guess you sacrificed your life for nothing." The dragon said with false sadness.

"Sacrificed my life?" The dragon asked snapping out of his depressive thoughts.. "What do you mean?"

Arum nearly laughed out loud at the comment, but it was Sol who Archimedes turned to for answers as his heart began to beat quickly with fear. The white dragon's features portrayed sadness.

"You must know that anyone who enters convexity cannot leave, not because they are prisoner, but because there is no way back, only a select few can shift through the barrier between the realms, and convexity." Sol explained solemnly his head drooping.

Now it was Archimedes' turn to laugh although only for a second, and this time both of the dragons looked at him confused. "I'll leave the same way I got here." The green dragon said as he pulled another crystal from his bag. "The energy collected from hundreds of dragons, when released, will open a portal back to the realms at least for a few moments."

With a gasp Sol grabbed for the crystal, but Archimedes pulled his arm back, giving the dragon a curious look. "What's wrong?" Archimedes asked, eyeing the dragon who seemed to be completely focused on the crystal now.

"Give us the crystal." Arum said darkly, approaching the older dragon slowly.

"Come any closer, and I'll use it." Archimedes threatened.

As Archimedes had hoped both of the dragons froze in place as if they were bound in place by other-worldly powers. The mottled green dragon looked from one to the other taking a few steps away as he did.

"Alright, what is so upsetting about this crystal?" He asked.

"If you use that crystal it could be catastrophic." Sol explained quickly.

"How, all it will do is take me back home, besides I used one in the realms, and nothing happened."

"Doesn't matter, different realms, different rules." Arum snapped.

"So what will it do?" Archimedes asked eyeing the crystal for a moment as he turned it in his talons.

"It will rip a hole in this world." Sol said his eyes moving to the crystal for a moment.

Archimedes opened his mouth to respond, but didn't get the chance as Arum interrupted him. "Through that hole will come every manner of creature from the dark realms. They will seep into this world, darken it. Corrupt it. Destroy it." The dragon said ominously.

"You two are the gods, can you not stop it?" Archimedes asked.

Both of the dragons' brows rose at the comment. No one had referred to them as such for as long as they could remember. "How did you know that mortal?" Arum asked, through gritted teeth.

"Research, and ancient prophecies. We know more of you both than you think." Archimedes countered not missing a beat. "You are both gods, brothers in fact. One of darkness." Archimedes said looking to Arum. "And another of light." The dragon continued looking to Sol.

"We are not the gods of convexity, dragon." Sol said an edge to his voice, although it only showed for a few seconds. "At least not gods as you know them to be. Consider us to be the protectors, and unrivaled rulers of this existence."

"Still, you are gods yet you cannot protect your own space?" Archimedes asked, irritated.

"Not from this kind of threat, we could fight off armies of enemies with tooth and claw, but a portal to the dark realms…" Sol trailed off s he considered the possibilities playing out in his mind.

"A catastrophe." Arum said, as he began to move forward. Archimedes too was caught in his thoughts, as he tried to decide what to do, so he didn't see the approaching dragon.

Stalking forward, Arum leapt the last few feet knocking the old dragon to the ground. The two wrestled as Arum tried to pin the dragon and wrest the crystal from him. Sol stood watching, a worried look on his face, but he made no move to intervene, violence was not his way. Nonetheless the security of his world was at stake so he made no move to stop the fight.

Archimedes, being quickly overpowered by the younger, larger, and more fit dragon, made one final effort. Taking his paw, that held the crystal, the dragon raised his talons, and slammed them down again, the crystal shattering across the cobblestone floor tiles. Both Sol and Arum screamed in protest as the energy quickly spread out into a large circle covering the floor. The portal glowed with multi-colored lights, a static ring surrounding the edges.

In the confusion Archimedes used what little strength he had to push himself out from under Arum and stand back up. The yellow dragon made his way to the portal, but as he neared the edge he jumped back in surprise as bolts of energy sped out of the portal and smashed into the walls around the room. Where the bolts struck more portals opened, each of them filled with an eerie black energy. After a few moments a dark grey mist began to fall out of the holes followed by contorted creatures. Some had hideous bodies, which were contorted and disgusting; others were just pure energy that seemed to cluster into a single entity.

Sol and Arum stared at the portals in dismay. Arum turned to his brother with a desperate look on his face, one that he very rarely wore. "Summon her!" He screamed.

"No, we cannot risk her being corrupted as well, she must stay pure!" Sol argued.

"Does it matter, if we do not act then she will have nothing to protect." Arum said pushing his brother out of the way, as he proceeded to the back wall where still a third dragon lay in slumber, covered in a sheet of stone.

Archimedes, so entranced by all of the things that were happening around him, he hardly noticed that the original portal was wavering from instability. Seeing his only escape slowly shriveling away the dragon moved towards the portal with a heavy heart. He had only come to convexity to harness its power. Despite this he was leaving, without his prize, and he had caused this catastrophe. Even worse he could do nothing to reverse the damage he had done, and now darkness was seeping in from every direction.

As he fell into the portal Archimedes saw a lot. As the creatures swept into the room Arum was trying to summon someone, the third dragoness who was still inside the statue. In the few seconds he saw the stone began to peel and chip away as if of its own accord. As the stone fell away the green dragon noted black horns, and just the very tip of her grey scales, almost blending with the stone. Then suddenly the stones flew back through the air, and adhered themselves to the dragoness once more. Sol had stopped Arum from whatever he was doing. Before the dragon could see any more he fell through the portal, and the whole world flashed white.

Less than a moment later Archimedes was spat out onto the ground again, unsure of what he should do next he just lay there.

"That was the day I realized that I had been on a fool's errand. To this day I do not know what happened to convexity or Sol and Arum. Regardless, I will never research the topic again, for it is not meant to be known." Valas said out loud.

From a few feet away Xranik laughed at his uncle's last written words. "The fool, if only he knew how close he had been."

"You plan to finish go back to convexity." Valas said trying to fit the pieces together. "That's why you asked for me to bring Taelas to you; you needed his power to create a portal."

"Correct." Xranik said, seemingly proud that the dragon had figured out his plan.

"You want to bring out Sol and Arum." Valas said remembering their earlier conversation. "Bring them through the portal?" Valas said wide-eyed.

"Precisely." Xranik said with a grin.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, but now things should get back to normal. My schedule has been burdened for the past two weeks. Not my best chapter, in my opinion, but you all may think differently, enjoy.**

Taelas stared at the food that had been laid out before him. All of it looked appetizing, appealing to the eyes, and to the nose. Although the tempting food was sitting before him Taelas couldn't bring himself to eat. He had just woken up from a restless sleep. All night he lay awake, unable to put himself at ease. After what had happened with the dragon he found it hard to settle down. Although his thoughts were in a frenzy, the dragon did a fair job of keeping a calm demeanor.

As the purple dragon stared down at his food he released a yawn, opening his maw wide, and making no effort to hide the gesture. Smacking his lips a few tips the dragon continued to stare at his plate with weary eyes, only rolling the food around under his talons.

"Taelas, behave." Aria said tapping her brother on the shoulder. Taelas didn't react to the touch or the sound, as if he was sleeping with his eyes open. "Taelas." Aria said a little louder, as she lightly pinched the dragon's scales.

The dragon jumped, and looked at her lazily. "Behave." She repeated, and Taelas rolled his eyes at her before turning back to his food, lifting it to his mouth, and taking a tiny bite.

He hardly ate at all, before it was time to leave. The purple scaled dragon stretched in front of the doorway, waiting for his sister so that they could go. The blue dragoness sat perfectly still in the common room. While she sat there Cynder clasped a thin silver chain around her neck. The delicate metal lace lay across her golden oval shaped crest. Hanging from the end of the chain was a signet. The ornate metal lattice was a pattern of waving lines with a sapphire encrusted in the center. Feeling the necklace catch on the back of her neck Aria turned to her mother with a grin.

"You are simply stunning." Cynder said, nuzzling the dragoness affectionately.

"Thanks mom." Aria cooed, before breaking the embrace, and walking across the room to meet up with Taelas, who was watching the scene play out.

"Taelas." Cynder said snapping the dragon from his wayward thoughts. "Are you alright?" She asked tilted her head to the side slightly. Cynder, just like Aria, knew when something was upsetting the dragon. When her son gave no response she pressed the question. "Are you sure that dragon didn't hurt you?"

"Mom!" Taelas snapped, and the dragoness knew that she had hit a nerve.

"Alright, just try to have a nice day." Cynder said after a moment, before leaning down to give the dragon a light kiss on the forehead.

As she turned to walk away, Taelas shook his head. "Mom, wait." He said, making Cynder take pause, and turn her head to face her child. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." Taelas said. "I promise." He said after a moment. The words seemed to lift the dragoness' emotions. Cynder's mouth formed a small smile. "Have a nice day Taelas." She said before turning back away from the dragons.

Taelas and Aria, knowing that they had to go, hurried out the door, and into the street. The dragons continued down the street in silence, mostly due to Taelas' usual quite manner. Aria was in fact teeming with questions, all of which were about last night, when the mysterious dragon had attacked. The ice dragoness had been forced to leave just as the fight started, and only caught a glimpse of the end. She knew though that Taelas would react badly to any comment she made, but her curiosity was beginning to overwhelm her concern for her brother's feelings, and as usual she hopped around trying to decide whether to speak or not.

Summoning her courage the dragoness turned a wary eye to her brother. "Taelas, what-

"Don't start Aria." The purple dragon said, as he paced down the street, not even bothering to turn his head.

"You don't even know what I was going to say." The dragoness pouted.

"I think it's safe to assume that I do know." Taelas said stubbornly.

"Just tell me Taelas." Aria said. "We don't keep anything from each other." The dragoness said poking her brother with a talon. There was a long pause between the two, and as Taelas let out a tired sigh Aria thought that she may have cracked her brother's resolve, and all it needed now was one small push.

"Are you sure that you don't want to talk? Maybe I could help?" Aria asked.

"No, I don't, and no you couldn't." Taelas said turning a keen eye on his sister. "It's for your own good anyway." The dragon said with finality. Aria almost cringed, as she heard her brother's quiet but stern voice. He sounded so serious that she didn't even bother to question it anymore.

It only took them a minute or so until they came to a spot they knew well. In that section where the streets crossed paths was another dragon that they both recognized. Syra, the crimson colored fire dragoness stood at the corner, looking at them.

"You two are late." She said with a smirk. "Was Taelas taking forever to get ready again?" She joked. Neither of the others laughed, and suddenly her face hardened. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know _Taelas_, won't tell me." Aria said putting emphasis on her brother's name.

"Ah, so we have no idea." Syra said joining up with them on the other side of Taelas.

Aria poked her head out in front of her brother before responding. "Well, last night after we were home, Taelas and I were at the training ground…"

"Aria stop." Taelas said his tone serious once more.

The blue dragoness ignored him. "When we were at the training ground some adult dragon came by and attacked us."

"Attacked you?" Syra asked in surprise, to which Aria nodded. "Are you both alright?" She asked in a worried tone, as she looked closely at Taelas trying to see if he had any wounds.

"I'm fine; Taelas might be a little scratched up though." Aria said as she saw what Syra was doing. "Almost as soon as the fight started Taelas told me to leave to keep me safe." Aria said proudly, happy to have a brother who would do that.

"You're so sweet." Syra said with a little grin as she patted the nonresponsive purple dragon, who had already begun to ignore both of the gabbing girls.

"But, since I left and only got back after the dragon left, I don't know what happened or why, and that is what I'm trying to figure out." Aria explained.

"Ah, but I guess he has been his usually depressing self." Syra said.

"Ya, but he seems to be a little more moody now."

"You know I'm right here, I can hear you both." Taelas growled.

"See what I mean." Aria said with a giggle.

Syra nodded, and then her eyes suddenly widened with an idea. Aria cocked an eyebrow, but the fire dragoness didn't respond to her. "So Taelas, do you want to tell me what happened?"

The purple dragon just gave a grunt, not even caring to give a verbal response to the dragoness. "Alright, well I guess we tried." Syra said shrugging her shoulders.

"That was your plan?" Aria asked clearly disappointed by her friend's attempt.

"No it wasn't." Syra said, confusing both Aria and Taelas, although the purple dragon did a much better job of hiding his emotion than his sister. "This is." She said springing her body up before falling atop Taelas pinning him to the ground, and planting herself across his back. Aria laughed and joined in laying down on her brother's back in order to keep him on the ground.

"What are you doing?" The purple dragon groaned.

"Forcing you to talk." Syra said, as Aria gave a little laugh at her pinned brother. "You can tell us what happened."

"Get off me, both of you." The purple dragon said, as his patience was already starting to fray.

"What are you going to do fight me, younger than you, and a girl no less." Syra said poking the dragon's head with her claw.

"And I'm your sister you defiantly can't hit me."

"I'm not going to fight either of you." Taelas said. "I'm kind of upset you would even think that."

"Are you just going to lie here then?" Aria asked.

"I could use some more sleep." The dragon said sarcastically, with a little yawn. "But no, I'm not going to do that either." Then with seemingly no effort the purple dragon stood up, and began to walk down the street as if oblivious to both of the girls who were still on his back.

Within seconds both girls hopped down, and watched as Taelas continued along his way. "To your credit, I thought it was a good plan." Aria said and Syra nodded still watching the dragon. "Come on, let's catch up."

As the three neared the academy Taelas looked to his left to see both of the dragoness' walking beside him, neither talking. "Do you both still want to know what happened?" The purple dragon asked as he saw the school coming into sight.

As if they were waiting for the question to be asked both turned to him in an instant grins on their faces. Taking their expressions as a yes the purple dragon continued. It turned out that Aria was right he could keep a secret from his sister, and he had known Aria since they were children. "Aria after you left I fought the dragon, after a bit I came out on top, I had him pinned to the ground, ready to kill him." Taelas explained bringing his sharp metal tail in front of him examining it in the morning light. "He told me it wouldn't matter if I killed him or not, either way we were all doomed."

"Did you find out his name?" Aria asked, and after a moment Taelas shook his head.

"What do you think he meant?" Syra asked.

"I don't know, I'm not sure if I really want to know." Taelas said shaking his head. The three stood in silence for a moment, before Taelas' head perked up and he eyed both dragonesses'. "Both of you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone, in fact put this out of your mind."

"Why?" Aria asked simply.

"Because…" The dragon trailed off just as he began to talk, leaving both of the girls to stare at him. "Because, I don't want either of you to get hurt." The purple dragon mumbled.

"Awwww!" Both the dragoness said at once, giggling at the dragon, who rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry Taelas we won't tell anyone." Aria said rubbing against the dragon's side.

"And thank you for telling us, our lips are sealed." Syra added as she too nuzzled the dragon, but only for a second before she realized what she was doing and pulled back, giving an uncertain smile.

Taelas thought nothing of it though. "I want both of you to promise me that if you see or hear anything about that dragon that you come find me right away." Taelas said sternly, and both of the girls nodded. The purple dragon let out a deep breath. "Come on we better hurry, or we might be late."

The three walked up the main flight of stairs approaching academy. The dragon academy was a place of schooling for all young dragons. It was only put back into use a few years before Taelas had been born. Earlier than that most dragons were still in hiding, and there were few who had the time or desire for a proper education, but as the dragon race stabilized and came back into existence there was a demand for it.

Taelas passed over the final step, which lead him straight to the edge of the school. A courtyard made of many intricate stones, which if viewed from the air formed the crest of the school, a pair of dragon's wings guarding over four scrolls. The courtyard was, as usual, bustling with dragons. Each of them forming their own little groups, and conversing about their day to day lives.

As he entered the campus he saw his sister and Syra run off to their own affairs. Taelas ignored the groups of dragons as he proceeded across the courtyard to the opposite end, where the magnificent academy stood, its stature dominating the landscape. As his parents had told him the school had only been resurrected a few years back and was just being finished as he was born. The project itself must have been a massive undertaking as the building was ten stories high. Each layer was decorated with arched glass windows and engraved signs and symbols, making the stone on outside of the building look like one giant picture. The purple dragon, who usually admired the intricate architecture, walked straight inside ignoring the sight this morning.

Walking inside the dragon continued on his way, going straight for his class room, he wasn't in any mood for conversation. As he passed through the long halls, and staircases, the school was so large that someone who had never been there would easily get lost. Thankfully for Taelas he had long ago learned his way through the twisting halls of the school. As the dragon proceeded on his way many of the dragons took small glances at him. Some even going so far as to turn from their conversation just to see him walk past. Taelas had grown accustomed to this though, he was a purple dragon, and that alone sparked almost all of the other student's interest. There was hardly a moment when someone wasn't looking him over up close or just watching from afar.

As the dragon turned a corner he heard a voice behind him. Taelas wasn't sure who it was, but he didn't care, avoiding others was his concern right now. With his dreary mood he wouldn't be surprised if he just snapped at one of his friends.

"Taelas wait up!" A recognizable voice said. The purple dragon didn't stop, but he did slow down slightly so that the other dragon could catch up.

"How did you find me?" He asked when the earth dragon was level with him.

"Followed the awestruck faces." The green dragon joked, and despite his mood Taelas chuckled slightly at his friend's comment. "You would think that they wouldn't be phased by now." He continued.

"Some things never change I guess." Taelas shrugged. As the two passed down another hall, before turning into an adjacent classroom. The room that they entered was the same as usual, dragons, their own age, sat around the area, each talking to the other. Taelas never had been much of one for conversation, especially since most of these dragons had nothing interesting to talk about, just gossip about each. The dark purple dragon turned, and headed to an unoccupied space, where he lay down, silently.

"What's wrong with you today?" Ridan said as he watched his friend give a sigh.

"I had a long night." Taelas responded tiredly.

"Doing?" The earth dragon pressed.

"Nothing of your concern." Taelas answered, before closing his eyes. "Where have you been Ridan? I haven't seen much of you." The purple dragon asked his eyes still closed. Although he could not see him Taelas knew that the dragon had suddenly stiffened.

"None of your concern." The dragon shrugged.

"Ridan we are good friends." Taelas said after a moment. "Do you find it odd that we keep secrets from each other?"

"Even the best of friends have their own privacy." Ridan answered hardly missing a beat.

Taelas, his eyes still closed smiled. "I suppose you are right, I'll talk to you later Ridan." The purple dragon heard his friend walk away soon after. Something was wrong with him, what it was Taelas did not know, but he figured that whatever was occupying his friend's time would come to light soon enough.

Soon after the class started, Taelas' teacher prattled on for over an hour. The old ice dragon had been alive since before Malefor was born, and his years showed, as his scales were wrinkled and even his bones seemed to creak as he moved around. Taelas, as usual, drifted in and out of the class. Today he was more distracted then usual though as his thoughts continued to drift to the night before.

A sudden bell rung, signifying the end of the class, which jerked the dragon from his thoughts. The enormous bell that sat atop the school was rung multiple times every day to signify the beginning, and end of classes. The bell itself was as large as an adult dragon and could be heard all over the building.

As the bell toll faded the purple dragon stood up, and stretched as did the rest of the class. Taelas quickly made his way for the entrance of the room, but never made it. Half way from the door the dragon heard his name called, his teacher asking for a word with him.

With a sigh Taelas walked over the elder dragon, knowing what the conversation would be about. "Yes, Sen?" He asked trying to keep his voice as pleasant as he could.

"I found that you were particularly uninterested with my lecture, today, on early dragon tribes. I know that you are not the most studious dragon, but today was something different."

"I'm sorry; I just…have a lot on my mind." The dragon said, and it occurred to him then that perhaps he was not so good at masking his feelings. This was one of the many who had talked to him today about how he was feeling.

"No doubt thinking over past events." Sen said.

"Yes, a few things are weighing heavily on me." Taelas answered, hoping that the dragon would not pry. He did not want to talk to the elder about the subject.

Sen stared at the purple dragon for a few moments; his old eyes were dull but still observant. "I will not question you further on the subject Taelas, just by looking at you I can see that it is something serious, rarely are you so perturbed by anything."

"Why did you want to talk to me Sen?" Taelas asked cutting the conversation short.

"I simply saw that you were troubled, and wanted to see if I could help." The ice dragon said, his tone still calm. "In light of what you have told me I will say this, do not focus on the past, and instead live in the present, lest you become forgotten."

Taelas looked at the older dragon in confusion for a few moments before responding. "Thanks for the advice Sen." The dragon said, although he hardly comprehended the meaning of the statement, and wasn't truly sure if it made sense.

Sen nodded. "And lastly, do not daydream in my class again, next time I won't be so lenient." The dragon said in a sarcastic voice.

Taelas nodded, giving a small smile. Sen waved his paw at the dragon, signaling for him to take his leave, and Taelas did just that, turning and exiting the class. He still hardly knew what he had been told, but he didn't give it too much thought.

The rest of the day continued on in the usual way. The dragons of the school filtered through the halls, each of them hurrying to their separate classes for the day. Unlike most days there was excitement in the air that day, as there had been for the past week or so. The school year was almost out, only a few days actually remained. The day passed quickly, as most teachers had already stopped their lessons to the eminent end of school.

Taelas sighed with relief as the bell rang for the final time. The dragon made his way back to the courtyard in front of the school. Dragons were already congregating there just as they had that morning. Right on time Aria ran up next to him and wrapped her forelimbs around her big brother. "How was your day Taelas?"

"Long." The dragon responded solemnly.

"Well that's typical." The dragoness said with a huff. Turning from her brother the dragoness saw Syra approach and her mood changed again. "Hey Syra, how are you?" She said energetically.

"Just fine, the days keep getting easier as break gets closer." The dragoness said with a smile.

"Well at least you are positive." Aria said, giving a short nod to her brother.

"He's never positive, it's his style, and that's okay, we love him anyway." Syra said sticking her tongue out at the dragon who sneered in response.

"Let's go." He said, and the other two nodded.

As the dragons walked away they reached the end of the courtyard. Then as they were about to exit the campus Taelas heard a sudden shout. A little ways off to the side he noticed two dragons, one being a dragoness that he had never talked to, and the other was one that he knew quiet well. He was a golden scaled dragon named Ivarik. Ivarik was rather well known around the school; he was always picking fights with others, and acting in strange ways. He had even picked a fight with Taelas once, for reasons that were still unknown to the purple dragon.

Taelas wasn't close enough to hear exactly what they were saying, but the dragon could tell that it was a heated argument. Ivarik was talking to dragoness, who was cringing before him. She was a few years younger than him, and not in much of a position to fight.

"I don't want to have to use force!" The dragon exclaimed angrily, Taelas picking up on the words this time. That alone set him off. Normally he just steered clear of Ivarik as he was never looking for a fight, but picking on a dragoness who was younger than him, and a girl at that, was intolerable.

"Stay here." Taelas said to his sister, and Syra, who both stared at him in confusion, before they noted which direction he was heading in.

"Taelas don't!" Syra pleaded, but the purple dragon would have none of it as he continued on.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" The female cried.

"You're lying I know it." Ivarik growled.

"Just, leave me alone." The girl said as she turned to walk away.

Ivarik was much too fast for the younger dragoness though, and by the time she had turned around Ivarik was already waiting for her. "Neither of us are leaving until I get an answer."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" The girl said again her voice cracking as she spoke.

"Ivarik, what are you doing?" Taelas asked as he approached cutting off the teal colored dragon.

"Get out of here purple dragon; you aren't a part of this." Ivarik spat, his disdain clearly showing through.

"Oh? I think I am, what are you doing demanding answers from girls who are younger than you?" Taelas asked, his own temper rising now.

"I said leave; you don't know anything about this." Ivarik said.

"I'll leave, you just let her go." Taelas said nodding to the dragoness who quickly scampered away, standing behind Taelas, and peaking her head out. "Or give me some reason as to why you can speak to her like that." A few moments of silence passed as Taelas waited for the lightning dragon to give him an answer. When none came Taelas smirked at the male.

"Just give me the dragoness." Ivarik said a sharp edge on his voice.

"Make me." Taelas said leering back.

With a loud roar Ivarik leapt forward tackling Taelas to the ground. The purple dragon though still had the upper hand. With hardly an effort he kicked the dragon off of him, and rolled back to his paws. Already, thinking to his next move the purple drake released a burst of fire which spewed forth from his maw, the red hot flames enveloping the aqua colored dragon.

Trying not to let the heat phase him, Ivarik beat his wings once sending the fires into a whirlwind before dispersing. Ivarik dived to the side as another wave of fire washed over the ground where he had been. As he came back up the dragoness's mouth crackled, and he shot a bolt of deep blue lightning which flew forward, and slammed into Taelas. As the shock hit Taelas body the female behind him gasped in fright, fearing that her supposed savior would be beaten.

Taelas however only chuckled as small streams of lightning flittered off of his body. "You call that lightning?" He asked even as electricity crackled between his teeth. In truth the bolt had hurt, but Taelas was using a tactic that he had been taught by his father. It was simple in theory, but tough in practice. Show no fear, no pain, no emotion, and scare your opponent. It seemed to work too as Ivarik's body visibly tensed, the dragon's jaw almost dropped to the ground.

The aqua colored dragon continued to stand there and stare in amazement even as Taelas reared back, and with an ear splitting roar conjured his own bolt of lightning, which shot forward and crashed into the ground at the foot of the dragon. Taelas had purposely made a non-lethal shot, as had no intention of seriously injuring the dragon. There was a resulting explosion, and Ivarik crashed onto the ground lying on his side dazed, and in pain.

"If I catch you trying to do this again, to anyone, your punishment will be much harsher." Taelas said his voice calm now. Ivarik only growled as he tried to stand, but failed, falling back to the ground again, his limbs like jelly.

Taelas turned around facing the younger dragoness, who was lying on the ground confused and near tears. "Are you alright?" Taelas asked.

"I am now." The dragoness said as she collected herself.

"Th-Thank you." She stuttered as she stood back up.

"Alright then wh- The purple dragon was cut off as the dragoness planted a kiss on his snout.

The dragoness pulled back a moment later. "Thanks again." She said a little more cheerily this time, before she ran off. Taelas watched her go with curiosity, confused. He had been hoping for an answer as to why Ivarik was yelling at her in the first place. Taelas walked back to the other two, who along with more than a few others had seen the entire exchange.

"Come on lets go." Taelas said again as he reached the two who were staring at him in shock. Despite their faces they both moved keeping pace with Taelas. The dragons left the academy and began to the walk back to their homes

It wasn't long though that Aria made her first comment. "She kissed you." The dragoness squealed excitedly. Taelas looked at her raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Don't you care?" The blue dragoness asked.

"I was just helping out." Taelas answered finally.

"If that's what you want to call it, but I think it was a damsel in distress and you were her hero." Aria said in a mushy tone.

"Be quiet Aria." Taelas said.

"If it helps I think she just did that because of the circumstances." Syra said. "Trust me; she doesn't like you like that."

"Do I detect jealousy Syra?" Aria asked giggling.

"Hardly." The dragoness said dryly, as she turned away, hiding her blush.

"Do you really think that the violence was necessary though?" Syra asked quickly changing the topic quickly as she continued to hide her rosy cheeks.

"If you will remember, I didn't make the first move. I gave Ivarik ample time to explain himself, and he wouldn't. He brought that upon himself." Taelas said. "Besides he's just a little scratched up I didn't do anything to bad." Those were the last words that Taelas said, the purple dragon slowly tuning out as the girls continued to talk.

He hadn't enjoyed what he had done but he couldn't let that continue. He, unlike the girls, had already moved on. Staring absently at the buildings above Taelas noted a dragon standing on one of the rooftops. The dragon was an adult and emerald green in color, his crest standing out as a dark yellowish tint. What caught Taelas' eye more than anything though was a mark on the dragon's crest, in the top right corner, the same burn that had been seared into the dragon who had attacked him the night before. Taelas quickly looked away not wanting the dragon to realize that he had seen him. Ever since he had seen it he had known that the mark meant something. I was probably a sign of their allegiance, the dragon surmised.

"Hey both of you stay close." He whispered, silencing both of the dragons.

"What's wrong?" Syra asked, suddenly on alert.

"Nothing, yet, just keep close, Syra we are taking you home." Taelas said.

"What's the matter?" Aria asked in a more nervous tone now.

"Don't react when I say this, but there may be dragons watching us right now." Taelas said.

"Like the same one that attacked you last night?" Aria asked quietly.

"No, but possibly in the same affiliation, they have the same burn mark." Taelas explained.

"So what are we going to do?" Syra asked.

"We are going to take you home, and I suggest that you stay there." Taelas said. "So just act normal, and we'll be fine."

"Oh ya, because it's easy to act normal now." Aria said rolling her eyes.

The dragons walked on. It wasn't too far to Syra's home and so it only took them a few minutes to traverse the distance. As they wove through the streets though Taelas could feel eyes on him. He still wasn't sure if this dragon was after them or if he was just paranoid. It didn't matter to Taelas though, he would rather be over cautious than stupid.

The dragons made it to Syra's house without any trouble. "Well, I guess I'll see you both tomorrow." The dragoness said rather awkwardly, as the thought of someone watching them was still a strong presence in her mind. Syra's eyes flitted around looking past Taelas and Aria but when she found nothing she turned to go inside. Once she was out of sight the siblings turned to make their leave.

Along the way neither spoke. Aria who was usually chatty kept her mouth closed. Taelas found it odd, but didn't question it; he figured it was because of the dragon that could be potentially watching them. While it was quiet it did give Taelas time to think. The fact that this dragon was most likely watching them, and in some way related to one that attacked him made Taelas shiver. He had to wonder what they wanted from him. He glanced at his sister for a moment; he could only hope that they wouldn't use the ones close to him to get what they wanted.

Later, after what seemed like the longest walk home, the two stepped inside their home to find both of their parents standing in the common room. The older dragons stopped their conversation as they walked inside.

"What took you so long?" Cynder asked as she ran over to her children and wrapped them both in her wings. "I was getting worried, especially with the strange rumors that have been going around lately.

"We're fine mom." Taelas said cutting off his sister before she ever got the chance to speak. "We just took Syra all the way home before coming here.

"Oh, well how nice of you both." The black dragoness said, a smile on her face.

"Cynder, we have to get going soon." Spyro said stepping up next to her.

"Where are you headed?" Aria asked curiously.

"We are going to the guardian's tower, along with several others." Spyro answered.

"What for?"

"They say that there is a need to address the rumors that have been going around, to see if they are true or not, and if so then what course of action to take." Spyro explained.

"Since your father is one of the guard captains he needs to be informed." Cynder said.

Taelas heard the title that Cynder had given to his father and nearly laughed. Guard captain still sounded ridiculous on his father. Spyro had taken a position on the guard after his fight with the seven dragons of darkness had ended. He had purposely made himself start in the lower ranks, feeling that he must start where everyone else had, thinking that he was no better than anyone else. Even now he was not the highest official of the guard, but everyone knew that he could best anyone in a fight, wits, or battle tactics.

"We will be staying the night there as this meeting is bound to go late into the night." Cynder said.

"Taelas." Spyro said, grabbing his son's attention. "You will be in charge for the night."

"And do not forget that your trial of age is tomorrow." Cynder reminded. "If you pass you'll be a full-fledged adult."

"I know mom." Taelas answered.

"It's hard to believe you'll be all grown up." Cynder said with a sniffle.

"Mom, it's not like that, I won't be any different." Taelas said trying to comfort his mother.

"I know." Cynder nodded as she tried to collect herself. "I just know you'll do great." She said giving him a kiss on his forehead.

"Thanks mom." Taelas said with a smile.

"We'll head out now, and leave you two go." Spyro said. "And Taelas," He added. "I would wish you luck tomorrow, but you don't need it, you'll do great son."

Taelas nodded and his father returned the gesture. With that the two left, and it was once again just Taelas and Aria alone in the house. The day went on as normal for the two, but then long after night had fallen Taelas woke up from his sleep. He had a strange feeling about him and he stared around the room he was lying in. Aria lay on the opposite end still sleeping soundly. Standing up the dragon, decided he would not go back to sleep yet. He doubted that he would be able to if he tried. Instead he walked to the balcony that hung from the side of the room. Once there he lifted his wings and lifted himself up the roof of his house.

The dragon sat there staring up at the stars on that cloudless night, he didn't much know why he was there, it just seemed peaceful and he could help himself.

Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed a flicker of movement. With a spin of his head the dragon looked to a roof across the street. In the shadows he say something that he almost didn't believe. On the opposite roof was a dragon, the same one that Taelas had seen earlier that day. The starlight was dim but even as the mystery dragon leapt into the air, and flew away Taelas saw that it was the dragon from before. Hardly thinking of his own safety Taelas dived off of the roof and flew off in pursuit of the dragon, it was time to get some answers.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have no excuses this time, sorry for the late post. Enjoy the chapter, I rather enjoyed writing it.**

Spyro's eyes flicked back and forth across the room as he entered it, a constant practice that had become part of his life since his childhood. Even after many years of peace, he still did this out of habit, to ensure that there were no enemies in the room. This time though there was anything but enemies occupying the room.

"Are you okay?" Cynder asked, the black dragoness noting her mate's behavior.

"Just fine." Spyro nodded, and the two continued forward.

The room was circular in shape, large columns lining the outer ring of the building. All of this made of stone or marble. The guardian tower had been erected long ago, always housing the current guardians of the land. These guardians were four dragons of each element, there to act as general leaders for Warfang, and guides for the rest of the world as well. Both dragon's talons clicked on the marble floor, drawing the attention of the four others across the room.

Each dragon bore different colored scales, yellow, blue, red, and green, the guardians themselves. The crimson dragon turned his head a grin appearing, when he saw who it was.

"Greetings Blaze." Spyro said as he and Cynder closed the gap between the two groups.

"Greetings?" The red dragon asked, seeming surprised. "When did you become so formal?" The dragon laughed.

Spyro smirked as well. "You don't seem to be the hot-headed drake you once were." He replied.

"I can't argue with you there." Blaze laughed, before he turned his eyes on the black dragoness beside Spyro. "Cynder, still as beautiful as you were twenty years ago. How have you been?"

Cynder blushed slightly at the comment. "I've been great, not a problem in the world."

"I would hope so; you helped to destroy the last of them." Blaze said. "I'm sure you both remember my fellow guardians, Srix, Tera, and of course Icryious." The three dragons nodded, respectively at the two.

"So what exactly is the point of this meeting?" Spyro asked rather bluntly.

"All that you said in the description was that it was dealing with this new cult, but that can't be the whole reason this meeting was called." Cynder said eyeing the guardians.

"And why not?" Tera asked, the earth dragoness raising a brow in question.

"Don't tell me you started without us?" Another voice suddenly cut in from across the room. Across the circular shaped marble floor was Aegis. The large golden dragon strode across the floor towards them, his toned muscles rippling slightly as he walked. Beside him, standing a few inches shorter was Azshea. The crimson dragoness still held all of her younger luster and appeal, despite her aging.

"We wouldn't think to do such a thing." Blaze said with a smile as the two newcomers made their way across the room.

"I would hope not, I'm looking forward to talking with all of you, into the wee hours of the night." Aegis said with noticeable sarcasm.

Azshea swatted lightly at her mate with the back of her paw, keeping him from saying anything more. "We are both glad to be here, to help." She said trying to reconcile Aegis' words.

"Noted." Tera said happily. "Now then, shall we proceed to chambers?" She asked.

"We are the only ones you wanted to talk to?" Cynder asked questioningly.

"No, the three generals are waiting for us upstairs, along with our two council members." Blaze answered.

"They will help us to conduct business." Icryious said.

"Then why bring us here at all, we are not leaders of Warfang." Spyro said as he tried to decipher why they were needed at all.

"Correct, you are not a leader of the city, but perhaps you have forgotten what color your scales are." Srix answered, and Spyro looked down at his paw as if to actually inspect their color for himself.

"You are the purple dragon, you and Cynder both played a major role in defeating Malefor all those years ago, we thought it a good idea to key you both informed on any potential threat to Warfang." Tera explained.

"Aegis and Azshea, you are both here for the same reason, you helped Spyro and Cynder to defeat Malefor's agents, and as respected members, and heroes of the community we thought it was best you come along as well." Blaze said, and answering the dragon's unasked question.

"Now, I suggest we don't keep them waiting." Tera finished, as she moved towards the staircase on the left side of the room. The ornate stone steps winding in a spiral all the way up to the top of the tower.

The other dragons followed suit, and together the group ascended the steps towards the higher rises of the structure.

Taelas soared through the late spring night. The warm air blew against his scales, giving him a sense of peace, but every thought in his mind betrayed that feeling. Ahead of him, in plain sight, was a fully-grown dragon. The violet drake flew on silently, they had long since passed the walls of Warfang, and now they were flying over forests and plains, most of which were unrecognizable to Taelas.

He wasn't very worried about where he was, he was more curious about the dragon that flew in front of him. Taelas had been following this emerald dragon for at least an hour now, and he was starting to wonder where he was going to, he wasn't heading for any cities that was for sure, but what dragon simply went into the wilderness in the middle of the night.

It hardly mattered to Taelas, he knew that this dragon had been spying on him the whole day, and he intended to figure out why. His assumption was still that this drake, whoever he may be, was a part of the cult. If so Taelas had to find out what was going on.

Suddenly, the adult drake dived down into a thicket disappearing amidst the tall trees of the glade. Taelas slowed as he neared the area, and eventually stopped flapping his wings to hover in place, as he stared down. All of his senses and training told him it was a trap; he had been suspecting it for a while now. He had come this far though, and would not turn back now.

As he moved to descend, there was a sudden _woosh_ as he felt a gust of air hit his back. Without having time to react Taelas felt a pair of jaws close on his neck before violently swinging him around in a complete revolution, eventually letting go, and sending him plummeting towards the small glade. As he fell through the sky, he saw the dragon, a teen with light red scales, only a little older than him, hovering in the air, the dim starlight reflecting off of his toothy grin.

Taelas quickly flipped his body over, and swung his wings with one burst, stopping the momentum he had gained, and landing lightly on the ground. Without a second thought, he turned, and loosed a bolt of electrical energy, which sped up into the sky, striking the dragon in the chest, leaving him to fall back to the ground, the strike so sudden that his cocky grin was still plastered on his features.

Standing in the glade Taelas stepped in a full circle, looking all around him for signs of any assailants that may be hiding nearby. Seeing nothing the purple dragon gave a sigh, knowing that another trap was surely afoot. The question of why they wanted him only struck him at that moment, but he didn't have time to consider it as bars of earth suddenly shot out of the ground around him, and closed him off, like a caged animal. Simultaneously, the dragon he had been chasing exited from his hiding place among the surrounding darkness. So that Taelas could finally get a good look at him. He had dark green scales, and a tan crest. On the crest in the corner was a burn mark that had grabbed Taelas' attention before. The dragon was big and bulky his black horns twisting back and up ending in menacing points. The dragon's brown eyes bore through Taelas with interest.

"Quiet foolish of you to follow a stranger all the way out here." The dragon said his voice low and deep. Taelas didn't respond, he was waiting for the dragon to actually say something important. "You never were much of a talker were you Taelas?" The green dragon paused for a moment to see if Taelas would respond but as expected he did not. "No matter, we have no need to your speech only your blood." The dragon grinned, an ugly smile.

"Why?" Taelas asked hardly disturbed by the grotesque comment.

"You expect answers from us?" The dragon asked laughing. "Give me one good reason." The dragon said.

The rock columns around Taelas suddenly cracked, and shattered, to the adult's surprise, a slight smirk on the purple dragon's face as he stepped out of the area where the bars had been. "Let me rephrase that, tell me or you won't live to see daylight."

"I'll tell you now dragon, you may think you are a strong fighter, but you are hardly older than a whelp. You won't survive this encounter, I suggest you lay down and give up, and I promise you a quick death."

"Please, try me." Taelas said crouching low.

A second later two dragons leapt out of the darkness teeth bared and claws raised, both pouncing on Taelas, bringing him to the ground.

"I would like you all to meet Grand General Tuss, Commandant Valencia, and Svalt the second in command." Blaze said introducing the three dragons standing before them. Each of them wore glorious armor, the pieces reflecting the light in the room. On the shoulder of each dragon was a silver armor plate which bore a sigil, depicting their rank. The orange dragon known as, Tuss, having the most ornate symbol.

"An honor to meet you all in person." Tuss said.

"You're all heroes it's an honor to be in your presence." Valencia, said bowing her sky blue neck.

"It was nothing really; we just did what anyone would." Spyro said trying to ignore the compliments.

"Hardly, do not degrade yourselves." Svalt countered ending the conversation, before turning to Blaze. "But I believe that Blaze has forgotten our other friends." The dragon said moving to the side and lifting a lone claw to point back a little further, to two more dragons.

"Ah yes, forgive Blaze he can be absent minded sometimes." Tera smirked. "These are our two councilors Razil, and Grundis, they are brothers in fact." The green dragoness explained.

"Pleased to meet you." Razil greeted.

"Since we have the introductions out of the way perhaps we should get down to business, which is what we are here for." Blaze said.

"Of course, why don't you start us off." Tera said.

"Right." Blaze said nodding his horned head. The dragon turned around, and crossed the room until he stood in front of a large square that was imbedded into the stone tiles. Inside the indent was an identical layout of the whole city of Warfang. Spyro, Aegis, Cynder, and Azshea gasped when the saw it, and the craftsmanship that had been put into each portion. Spyro even found their house among the many buildings that littered the city. Looking at the miniature imitation of his home the purple dragon couldn't help, but think of his daughter and son who were probably sleeping in that house at the same moment.

Taelas was slammed on the ground feeling a sharp pain go up his side as he gasped in surprise. Two dragons, young adults, not even two years older than Taelas, had come from seemingly nowhere, and tackled him to the dirt, the only problem being that even they were having a hard time restraining him.

"What are you fools, waiting for, we don't need him alive, spill his blood!" The adult yelled. As commanded, both dragons stretched out their necks, and started to gnash at Taelas with their teeth. Both made contact, but it was then that the purple dragon truly began to fight. Taelas stood back up shaking loose one of the dragons, the other one he quickly turned on and breathed a cone of fire, the white-hot flames engulfing the dragon sending him reeling. Taelas didn't allow him to recover as he spun smacking the dragon to the ground with the snap of his tail.

The violet dragon summoned his energy once again firing a bolt of lightning at the first dragon who he had shaken off. The yellowish white power could only be seen for a split second before it smashed into the dragon making him fall to the earth silent.

"Now then what were yo-

Taelas grunted, unable to finish his sentence as the adult whipped his tail around slamming the purple dragon, sending him tumbling back across the ground. "Arrogant." The adult spat, as Taelas struggled to stand back up. Taelas spat blood, glaring at the green drake with hatred. As Taelas stared at him debating on his next move the cultist had apparently grown impatient. A slab of earth rose up in front of him and shot forward with extreme force.

Just barely reacting in time Taelas lifted a paw slashing at the slab as it came forward. The earth shattered into little bits of dust and debris spraying into Taelas face, but keeping him unharmed. As his vision cleared, Taelas staggered back as the cultist stood a mere foot in front of him. "Surprise." He said with a grin before plunging his tail forward, aiming for the young dragon's heart. As quick as lightning, Taelas ducked to the side, the sharp tail blade only managing to clip his side. Ignoring the pain the purple drake let one of his elements well up inside him as he charged forward. Taelas bashed into the green dragon's chest a burst of red energy slamming the cultist as well. The adult skidded back several feet as embers burst into the air, and fizzled out as a result of Taelas' fiery attack.

The cultist narrowed his eyes watching Taelas as he stood there panting. "All of you, come out now." The dragon commanded, his orders falling on unknown ears. Taelas watched in horror as six others appeared from the surrounding forest each of them closing in on him slowly, but steadily.

His own anger welling up inside him Taelas refused to let himself die here. As the cultists approached Taelas began to glow a dim purple color. At first, it was only slight, but it grew rapidly faster than even he anticipated.

The green dragon obviously noticed the glow, and he quickly took action. "All of you kill him now, before he can summon his power!" The dragon yelled, as he took sprinted forward. Taelas didn't hear the dragon's cry, nor did he notice anything else, he just felt the pulsating power of convexity forming inside him. Just as all of the dragons closed in on him, Taelas released the energy, and there was a resulting explosion that shook the very earth around them, the sound cracking their ear drums.

"Did you feel that just now?" Cynder asked, feeling a slight vibration.

"No." Spyro said after a few seconds. "What was it?"

"I…I don't know." Cynder said thinking to herself. "Don't worry it was probably just my imagination." Spyro dismissed her words after that, bringing his attention back to Blaze who was still speaking.

"The city of Warfang is in a potentially dangerous position." Blaze began. "The dragons and moles are beginning to grow weary of the shadows. As most all of you probably know, there has been an uprising of cultist activity in past months, and it is beginning to peak now."

"The cult, does it have a name?" Spyro asked, interrupting the dragon just as he was gaining momentum.

"If you had asked that a week ago we wouldn't have been able to tell you, but we found out a few days back that they are called _The Talons of Vex_." Razil answered, the grey dragon's voice carrying along at a very high pitch.

"We can't be sure of what it means." Tera said, rather embarrassed.

"Have you thought of convexity?" Spyro asked, the strange realm being the first thing to come to mind.

"We hadn't, but that would be an apt assumption." Srix said. As the lightning guardian moved to continue talking, Blaze gently interrupted him.

"Thank you for your insight Spyro, but before we get to far off topic I want to discuss the city." Blaze said. "There will be plenty of time for the specifics and details afterwards, but for now we need a solid course of action."

"Of course." Srix said, nodding.

"As I said, the cult has been seen all throughout Warfang, pestering, recruiting, and even attacking in some situations. There have also been a few situations where dragons have reported kidnappings." Blaze explained solemnly.

"Preposterous, there has been no news of any kidnappings Valencia said. "Something so serious must have gotten out."

"Actually, the few reports we have heard of have been kept quiet." Blaze explained, and when most everyone in the room scowled at him, he quickly continued. "Not by us, the dragons who told us said that they were told to keep quiet or else the cultists would kill the victims."

"I still find that hard to believe." Valencia said skeptically. "Even if they were told to keep quiet you would think that at least one dragon would speak out."

"Perhaps they fear for their children's safety which keeps them from speaking out, fear is a powerful persuader." Cynder piped up. "And Valencia, it is all true because just the other day one of them assaulted both of our children."

"Attacked? Are they okay?" Tuss asked genuinely concerned. He most always wore a tough exterior, but kids had always been his soft spot. The thought of any adult who would willingly attack a youngling made his blood boil.

"From what I was told when the dragon attacked Taelas, my son, sent Aria to leave, to keep her safe. She then came and got me. By the time I got there Taelas had the adult pinned, he flew away before I could ask him any questions though." Spyro explained.

There was silence in the room for a few moments as the dragons stared at him, and Cynder, surprised looks covering their faces. "What?" He asked tilting his head to the side.

"You're son took down an adult by himself?" Grundis asked finally.

"Well sure, it really isn't hard, full sized dragons are strong, but much slower than younglings. Besides it isn't unheard of, Cynder, and I killed Malefor when we were about his age."

"I guess we should expect as much from a purple dragon." Blaze chuckled, and the rest of the group offered a small laugh. "I'm very glad to hear that you're kids are alright, don't get me wrong, but for us simpletons it isn't as easy to defend ourselves." Blaze continued.

"That's why we were thinking of raising security around the city, more patrols, more scouts in the skies." The dragon trailed off as he looked around the room. "Thoughts?"

"I think it wouldn't be a bad thing to raise the amount of guards patrolling the streets." Aegis interjected. "It would definitely give the cult second thoughts about attacking."

"But you would have to be careful, if you use this tactic to an extreme people are bound to become even more nervous." Azshea chimed in. "And a nervous people are much more likely to do something drastic, we wouldn't want riots."

"She is right." Svalt said, nodding all the while. "It would be best to bring in more guards gradually, as to not raise any alarm."

"Good plan." Blaze said. "But guards alone won't stop this. What about some sort of special force to deal with these dragons, a small unit preferably." Blaze said looking to General Tuss for an answer.

The orange dragon took a moment to ponder in his head. "With more of our dragons patrolling we would have to find some that would still be available to take on the role, but it is far from impossible. The only problem being that we need to know what we are fighting. We can't set up all of these forces without any direction."

"We need a way to identify these cultists." Svalt said. "Do we know anything about them, how they act, who they attack, what they do?"

"The only clue that we have so far is that there is a burn mark, some sort of symbol on the dragons. This seems to signify their allegiance with the cult." Srix declared.

"Not much to go on, but it will have to do." Tuss nodded. "I imagine more revealing factors will show with time."

"This will start out small, but as it gains momentum I don't have any doubt that we can end this cult." Blaze said. "Now onto the more intricate weavings of this force, how do we go about organizing this exactly?"

Taelas groaned loudly, and coughed as the dust and smoke cleared from around him. The dragon stood up groggily, looking around in mild confusion. Seeing the chaos that surrounded him, he realized that when he had tried to use convexity it had backfired. The dragon cursed to himself, his father had warned him that he needed more practice, but in this case, he hadn't been given much of a choice.

With a queasy stomach, and pounding head the purple dragon staggered over to one of the cultists who was lying on the ground. The dragon was still awake, not knocked out like the others, a resilient one.

Taelas reached him, and clasped the dragon's neck in his claw, holding his body to the ground. "Why are you trying to kill me?" The purple dragon asked venomously.

The downed dragon's head lolled around for a moment before he responded. "The purple dragon holds the key." The drake said his eyes glazed, and unfocused.

"What do you mean, what key?" Taelas asked with as much force as the first question.

"Blood, blood is the key." The dragon said putting much emphasis on the last word. "You are the one, the only one, the one we came for, the one we need." He rambled his voice growing more menacing with each word.

Taelas felt a bit of pity for the dragon, who was only slightly older than him. The male was obviously losing it. "Drip, drop, take it out, use it for our own desires. The blood, the blood." He continued, reaching up a talon running it along one of Taelas' wounds, letting a few drops of the red liquid gather on his claw. As he saw the liquid his face turned to one of glee.

Taelas stepped back disgusted, chills consuming his body. "You're crazy!" He spat.

"Crazy?" The dragon asked, his eyes suddenly widening and focusing on Taelas, as if his mind had suddenly returned to him. "Perhaps we are, perhaps we aren't, you are not the one to decide. Judgment will fall on all of us soon, your blood will spill and you're the gods will appear, the ones to find us all."

"Gods? What Gods?" Taelas asked, almost fearing the answer he might get.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know, the ones we know, the ones you don't, but soon you'll see, everyone will." The dragon screeched as he was thrown into a fit of mad laughter.

Seeing that the dragon was beyond sane Taelas backed away, this one must have long ago lost his mind. That though wasn't Taelas' problem. He had come for answers and he, despite more than a few hiccups had gotten some. Unfortunately, most of them had just led him to more questions. Looking around, he saw more passed out dragons, and decided that he could gain nothing from staying any longer, so with a mere thought he leapt into the air flying back for Warfang, and leaving the crazed laughs of the insane dragon behind.

"Spyro, what do you think they are doing right now?" Cynder asked, as she looked out from a balcony high above the streets of Warfang.

The purple dragon joined her stepping outside into the spring air, and looking up at the stars on the clear night. "Who do you mean?"

"Aria and Taelas." The onyx dragoness clarified. As she turned her cyan blue eyes to her mate. "What do you think they are doing?" She asked again.

"My guess is, they are sleeping." Spyro replied plainly not understanding, and Cynder shrugged. "What else would they be doing right now?" The purple dragon questioned.

"Nothing, you're right." Cynder said, before quieting herself and looking back out to the city. Spyro lifted one of his leathery orange wings to cover the dragoness, and bring her closer to him. He waited in silence knowing that she was not done speaking yet. "I guess I just worry too much, I mean tomorrow Taelas will be all grown up. An adult, in society's eyes, and Aria isn't far behind."

"Is that really so bad?" Spyro asked, drawing Cynder's misty eyes to him once more. "Do you really want them as children again, asking for something every five seconds, constant care, and always having to watch them?"

"I guess not." Cynder sniffled after a moment.

"Exactly, every stage in life has its ups, and downs, but now it's time to let them flourish. We raised both of our kids right, they'll grow up to be a fine dragons. We've done our work now it's time to let them go." Spyro said, placing a paw on hers.

"But, I don't know if I can part with him." The mother said still looking at the purple-scaled dragon.

"No one said you have to, Taelas isn't going to completely sever the ties, it's just a new stage in his life." Spyro said his tone still soothing.

There was a long silence between the two. It had been a long night; the two had talked with the guardians, and councilors for hours. Their eyes were fluttering, struggling to stay awake, yet neither moved to bed.

"Besides, you'll still have me." Spyro said with a little grin. "Or, am I just not up to your standards?" He asked sarcastically offering a small smile.

"No one in this world could replace you, Spyro, you know that." She said giving the purple dragon a light kiss. "I just hope they are having sweet dreams." Cynder said as she looked out in the direction of their home.

Taelas landed on the balcony that led into his room. As his paws touched down the drake's legs gave out suddenly, and he crashed hard into the floor, not the most silent entrance by any standards. "It doesn't matter." He thought to himself. "As long as I don't wake A-

"Taelas?" A tired voice asked from across the room.

The purple dragon cursed aloud as he picked himself up off the floor. His body ached, and the last thing he wanted to do was answer to his little sister. Unfortunately, that was just what he would have to do, as she bounded over to him her sleepiness still showing clearly on her features.

"Taelas, are you alright?" She gasped, looking her brother up and down, peeking at all of his cuts and scrapes. "What happened?" She asked her voice a mere squeak.

"Nothing Aria, I just went out to visit someone." Taelas said, although even he knew the lie was terrible.

"I'm insulted that you even thought that would work!" Aria shouted as she moved a paw to shove her brother, but she quickly brought it back considering his injuries. "Now tell me!" She said forcefully.

Taelas didn't respond he stared at his sister. He knew exactly how she was feeling, lost, scared, and unsure of what she should even do, and rightly so as she had been awoken in the middle of the night to find her brother reentering the house wounded. The dragoness was yelling, but she looked like she was about to cry. Taelas leaned forward, without a word, and hugged the dragoness tight.

"It's fine, everything's okay." Taelas said softly.

"But, it's not, you're hurt." The blue dragoness choked as she accepted the comforting embrace from her sibling.

"I'll be okay, they are just scratches." Taelas said. "Look, Aria, I promise I'll talk to you about this, but right now we need to sleep, okay?" He asked pulling the dragoness out to arms length. "Tomorrow morning, you remind me okay?" Taelas said. Aria nodded, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

"It'll all be fine. I promise, we aren't in any danger here." Taelas said.

Aria nodded slowly and Taelas gave a weak smile. The purple dragon wasted no time in slumping down right where he stood. As he fell asleep the drake felt Aria curl up next to him, just before his mind went dark.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Well, after five long chapters we are finally getting into the actual plot of the story, most of the previous stuff has been set-up. Enjoy.**

Taelas cracked a lazy eye, the sunlight pouring in, and forcing him shut it again. Seeing only blackness once more the dragon give his mind a few moments to start up and comprehend what was around him. Laying in his room the drake slowly opened his eyes, his pupils adjusting to the intense light.

Taelas slowly stood up his body aching slightly as he forced his limbs to move, the injuries that he had received the previous night were fading, but were not yet fully gone. The dragon grunted as he looked his own body over before he looked out the window and realized that it was past high noon. His mind suddenly spun as he considered his sister and the events that had occurred the previous night. The violet dragon whirled around looking to the spot where she had last been the night before.

Seeing nothing there but the stone floor tiles, Taelas realized that she must have left by now. It was after all the last day at the academy for the year. The dragon suddenly got nervous as he realized how late he would be, but the thought only lasted for a second. It was the last day of the year, and since his final test was today, as it was for all last year dragons, he was granted the privilege of going into school whenever he liked.

Aria must have woken up, on her own, and gone to school. A small feat, but only that gave Taelas pause. He had always woken up with her, and they had left together. Having her going alone made him feel left out, and he imagined that she had a similar feeling.

Figuring that there was no way to reverse it now Taelas stretched once more before walking out of his bedroom, and down to the common room. The purple dragon quickly found something to eat, and after enjoying his meal, he left the house, knowing that he would need to take this test before the school day was out. If he did not he would have to wait for another year before taking the rite of passage.

Taelas sprang into the air, defying gravity without so much as a thought. The dragon flew swiftly across the city, heading for the school. It only took the teenager a few minutes to get there, as they did not live far away, and flying was much quicker than walking to the academy.

Taelas touched down at the school grounds finding them to be deserted. All of the activity on the campus was currently going on inside of the building, not out. Taking no time for leisure, the dragon walked through the front doors, and made his way down the halls, his talons clicking on the black marble floors. Knowing the path that he had to take Taelas climbed up a nearby staircase, and took a right continuing on his way, he had encountered no one else in the building thus far. He knew it shouldn't be strange, but it felt odd to be in the academy, with only the sound of his claws to listen to. Students occupied the rooms he passed, but everything was still deathly quiet.

After several more minutes of silent travel, the dragon came to the place he needed to be at. Just down the hall was a large door, that didn't look particularly special, before the door though was Taelas noted a familiar face. His friend, Ridan was walking down the hall in the opposite direction. The earth dragon's face brightened when he saw his friend, but the look was somehow hollow.

"Ridan, did you pass the test?" The purple drake asked, as Ridan approached him.

"Yeah, it was surprisingly easy." Ridan answered.

"What did you have to do?" Taelas asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I don't think that I can tell you that." Ridan replied sadly.

"Oh come on, I'm taking the test right now anyway, what could possibly change from you telling me." Taelas pressed.

After a moment, Ridan looked around checking to ensure that they were alone. "Alright," He said looking back at Taelas. "It's just one test; you fight some golems that they conjure, pretty simple stuff."

Taelas nodded. "Thanks for telling me, I couldn't ask for a better friend." He said as he walked past his friend towards the door. Taelas stopped after a moment and turned back saying, "By the way congratulations on passing."

"Yeah, good luck." Ridan said as he too continued on his way, hardly able to smile at his friend. Normally, Taelas would have questioned his friend's odd behavior, but he had the test on his mind, and so he didn't push it any further.

With his onyx talons, Taelas gently pushed the door open, and slipped through. Before him was a mediocre sized room. There was nothing fancy to it; in fact, there was nothing in it at all excluding a few lights. In the opposite corner were three dragons, all adults. Taelas immediately recognized them as the leaders of the school.

"Hello." He said more as a question than a statement, as the three had yet to look at him, or move at all.

Getting no response, Taelas stepped up before them and looked up at the larger beings. There were two males and one female. The first, and further to Taelas' left, was Toriun, an earth dragon, he stood taller than the other two by at least two heads. His imposing stature and physical form were only a guise though, as he was known to be more of a scholar than a fighter. The next dragon Taelas glanced at was the female on the right. She had glossy cyan scales, white curved horns, and purple, almost black, wings that seemed to match Taelas' scales.

The final dragon Taelas knew much better than the other two; this drake had black scales with an indigo crest, white horns, and green eyes. His wings were the complexion of a stormy sky. His name was Xranik, the figurehead of the school.

"Uh, hello?" Taelas repeated, as none of the dragons lifted a claw, or turned their head.

"I'm…uh…here to take the test." Taelas said his confusion eminent in his voice. Hearing the words Toriun began to move his head to speak, but the black dragon next to him quickly cut him off.

"Begin." Xranik said, the word passing almost too quick for Taelas to comprehend.

The violet dragon instinctively jumped back, and counted himself lucky that he did as the female swept her claw across the spot where he had just been standing.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked desperately as the dragoness approached him swiftly. He looked to Xranik and Toriun who had not yet moved, but they gave him no hints. With an irritated growl Taelas rolled to the side as ice shards shattered like glass on the floor where he had been standing.

"Fine you want a fight you'll get it." Taelas uttered beneath his breath. The purple drake leapt forward his teeth bared, but he never made it to the dragoness. A ball of earth rammed into Taelas' side, sending him to the ground rolling before he quickly recovered. He did not get the chance to retort before Toriun answered the unasked question.

"Dodge, but do not retaliate." The green-scaled behemoth said.

Taelas cursed in his mind, such a ridiculous task seemed mundane to him. Why get into a fight if you would not strike your opponent. The dragoness came at him again this time swinging her tail before her trying to trip the purple dragon up. It didn't work as Taelas hopped the tail before landing back on the tile. The dragoness continued with her physical assault for a few more minutes biting, swiping, swinging, stabbing, each and every time she missed, as the purple dragon proved to be much too quick for her. As he maneuvered himself around the attacks Taelas took a second to think. Why had Ridan lied to him about the test? This was no fight against animated golems. Perhaps they had changed the rules just for him, because he was a purple dragon. Or maybe Ridan had purposely lied to him, either way Taelas was stuck doing whatever these three cooked up.

In annoyance with Taelas' performance, the dragoness began to charge a large ball of ice energy. Taelas could see it growing in size, and power in her maw, but he could do nothing to stop it, he was restricted from attacking.

Noting the size, and power of the element Taelas realized that no matter which way he moved he would not escape from its range. The purple dragon simply stood there trying to reason a way out of his predicament; all the while, the energy grew stronger.

Watching from behind the dragoness Toriun looked to Xranik, his worry apparent. "I've played along so far, I even attacked the boy. Now what's your plan?" The green dragon asked forcefully, but quietly as to not let the others hear. Xranik saw him out of the corner of his eye and simply shook his head so slightly it was hard to tell if he had moved it at all. "Don't worry Toriun, it's just a test. You couldn't expect me to give the great purple dragon the same test as the others."

"I expect you to keep this within reason." Toriun said bluntly effectively ending the conversation. Xranik cracked a small smile, but said nothing.

The room suddenly dropped down to below freezing, and Taelas stiffened up as the blue dragoness reared back her head, and spat out the energy. The ice bomb smashed into the ground and the entire room flashed a bright white. The next thing that any of the adults saw was the after effects of the attack. The half of the room, which the energy had been released into, had been covered with snow and ice, in some places newly formed stalactites of ice hung from the ceiling. It only took a split second though for all of them to focus on the middle of the room where Taelas had been. Each of their eyes widened to see a spinning ball of orange flames which now leapt around the purple dragon. The fiery energy dispersed with a few loud pops and crackles leaving Taelas standing in the middle of the suddenly wintry room.

The purple dragon met the three dragons with a blank stare. "Did I pass?" He asked simply raising his shoulders in inquiry.

There was no response for a moment until Xranik spoke. "Toriun, open a door, please." At the request, the large earth dragon stamped his paw on the ground, and a part of the far wall fell away forming a make shift door, there was a room on the other side but Taelas could not make out what was inside. "You first." Xranik said staring at Taelas with an outstretched paw facing the door. Taelas nodded and tentatively entered the next room, unsure of what he should find. As the dragon moved through he heard Xranik whisper something to Toriun, but could not make it out. The dragon didn't let it bother him though and instead took a look around the room he had just stepped into.

What was on the other side of the wall was a rather large room. It was similar to a cathedral building, columns rose up on either side of him, and at the far end was a tiered alter. There was nothing on the floor just tile, and there were no other doors adjourning this room, if Toriun had never dropped part of the wall there would have been no entrances at all.

"What is this place?" Taelas asked as he walked further into the large room. He noted now that there were terraces on either side of him leaving him on a lowered level.

"It is the test chamber." Toriun said.

"So there is another test?" Taelas asked.

"Yes, a series of three in fact." Toriun answered.

"So then what do I have to do?" The purple dragon asked.

"You must find the real me." Toriun said, although his voice sounded muffled to Taelas.

The purple dragon turned around and his jaw opened wide in surprise. Before him were at least a hundred statues made of earth. Each was an exact copy of Toriun.

"Find the real one." Xranik said smugly from off to the side.

Taelas looked at the many statues one after the other, seeing no differences between them. This was obviously intended as a test of wits, to see how fast you could find a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately, they had not accounted for Taelas, as he was a purple dragon and much stronger than any other participant thus far.

The dragon gathered up as much energy as he felt that he could stably hold, before releasing it with a mighty roar. The sound of the roar combined with the earth energy that he had stored shot out and expanded like a wave. The sonic boom cascaded over the statues making them crumble and crumble the stones scattering across the tiles. After the attack had dispersed only one statue remained, and it too was beginning to crack and fall apart as well, revealing a green-skinned dragon underneath.

"That's him." Taelas said pointing a lazy talon at Toriun who simply dropped the rocky container revealing himself fully.

Laying in her final class Aria thought that she heard a faint and familiar roar. Her head peeked up as she looked around the room trying to locate the sound, but it was too late for the sound had already disappeared. She thought that perhaps she was just hearing things if only to entertain herself. Her class was boring her to death the last day before the break and she had finished her exam. Now all she could do was wait out the last grueling twenty minutes. She felt like a hatchling with no patience. Twenty minutes wasn't long at all, but it was passing as if it was a lifetime.

After twenty more lengthy minutes, the final bell rang and an uproar coursed throughout the school. Dragons from young to almost adult ran with glee all of them long past ready for their break.

Aria, in the exact same mindset, joined the crowds blending in, shouting and running for joy. The uproar ended eventually, leaving Aria in the courtyard in front of the building. The crowds dispersing she stood happily, the afternoon sunlight feeling great on her cobalt scales.

A couple of moments later Syra joined up with her. "Hey." She said nonchalantly.

"Hey? We just started break, aren't you excited?" Aria asked in dismay, as she was expecting a much more peppy greeting.

"I am." The dragoness nodded her tone equally as dull as before.

"Oh, right, you aren't into the whole, show how you are feeling thing." Aria said with a little grin.

"I am too." Syra said giving the girl a playful shove. "I just feel that emotion should be shown when it's relevant."

"So…never." Aria said as she began to walk, the crimson dragoness going along beside her.

"I never said that." Syra replied.

"You might as we…oh hi Ridan." Aria said interrupting her tiff with Syra to greet the earth dragon.

"Hey, excited for the end of school?" Ridan asked.

"Of course!" Aria responded with a grin going from ear to ear.

"It's great." Ridan said taking a deep breath. "Like a new lease on life." He said with a smile. "Mind if I join you guys?" He asked.

"Of course not." Aria answered happily. As the three made their way down the central stairs Syra turned to Ridan in curiosity. She had seen little of the dragon lately. It used to be that he was always around, he and Taelas being childhood friends. The dragon himself, despite his attitude seemed to look rather ragged.

"So Ridan, where have you been? We haven't seen much of you in a long time now." Syra asked.

"Too long I might add." Aria said tapping the dragon with her paw.

"I've been…busy." The dragon responded hesitantly. "The end of the year has been a lot of work, just keeping up was a challenge."

"I can only imagine." Syra answered. "I assume that you passed you test of adulthood?"

"Ya, I did." Ridan said with a small smile.

"Well, congratulations." Aria said giving the green dragon a small embrace before collecting herself and pulling away a meek look covering her features.

"Uh, thanks." Ridan said tentatively a bit of red showing through his scales. "By the way I saw Taelas on my way out. Why did he wait until the end of the day to take the test?"

Aria suddenly grew quiet, and her eyes dropped to the ground. She remembered that morning, leaving the house, and seeing her brother still asleep; his wounds still fresh on his body. Her mind reeling back to the previous night she quickly shook the thoughts out of her head.

"I…I don't know." She mumbled.

"Are you alright?" Ridan asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm fine it's just…"

"Did something happen?" Syra asked, her mind already running through possibilities before she finally settled on the recently rising cult.

"I'm not really sure, Taelas wouldn't tell me." Aria responded slowly.

"The cult?" Syra asked simply and Ridan stiffened at the mention of the group.

"Maybe." Aria answered her voice more of a mumble now, the bliss that she had held only moments ago now gone.

"Perhaps you should elaborate." Ridan said.

"Bravo, young dragon, not the most orthodox method, but effective." He said giving a genuine grin. Taelas nodded tossing a small smirk his way.

"He is right, that was not orthodox, and you should not be allowed to pass." The female said finally speaking for the first time. Her voice sounded light and airy, but full of cunning and mystery.

"You almost sound like you don't want me to pass at all." Taelas said dryly as he turned to face her.

"You shouldn't not after that display. You were supposed to use your mind and think through the situation." The dragoness snarled.

"I did do that, what you just saw was my solution to the problem. Also, I don't recall hearing any rules to that challenge, so it's more your fault than mine." Taelas said unconcerned by whatever punishment he may get for speaking out of turn.

Xranik waved a paw keeping the dragoness from retaliating. "Let it go, he completed the test." Turning to face the dragoness Xranik gave her a snide look. "He makes a much more valid point anyway." The dragoness fumed at the comment, a jet of frost shooting from her nostrils, before she stamped out of the room.

"Leave us, now." Xranik said bringing his gaze back to Taelas as he waved Toriun off.

"What do you plan to do?" Toriun asked, staring at the dragon with scrutiny.

"Just the final test, one with no other interruptions." Xranik explained as he tried to hide his anger at the earth dragon, for questioning him. "Now don't make me repeat myself."

Toriun starred at the drake for a few moments before nodding and exiting the room through the door that he entered closing it with stone as he left.

"A one on one session?" Taelas asked, a grin tugging at the side of his mouth. "I feel honored."

"You are quiet arrogant aren't you." Xranik said his features contorting into a scowl.

"Funny, I was recently told the same thing by another." Taelas replied. "But thus far no one has given me a reason not to be."

"Unfortunately, for you that ends right now." Xranik said.

"I guess that's the third test then, fight you." Taelas replied, cocking his head to the side.

"Precisely." Xranik hissed.

"Well, I don't have all day, let's go." Taelas answered as he began to ready himself. This was all strange, why would Xranik send the others away. This whole test was supposed to be judged by three elders. Something was wrong here, not to mention the way that Xranik was acting. Being caught up in his own thoughts Xranik took the younger dragon by surprise and leapt towards him without a word of warning.

Xranik pounced onto Taelas, finally catching the purple dragon and slapping him down to the ground. As quick as lightning Xranik pinned the dragon by his wings, and spoke one word, "Begin!" before he spat shadowy fire down on the smaller dragon. Taking the brunt of the attack Taelas coughed and sputtered as the flames washed over him. After several seconds of the burning attack, the purple dragon finally managed to retaliate as he forced a ball of fire from his mouth, the fireball shot up slamming Xranik in the jaw, and sending him reeling back.

Knowing that he should take advantage and counter Taelas slowly stumbled to his paws, before coughing again, this time expelling cinders from his mouth onto the ground. The dragon fell halfway to the ground again as he continued to cough, he could hardly see either as the flames had burned his eyes.

As Taelas slowly recovered, Xranik closed the distance to him, and extended a firm paw picking up the dragon by the neck. Powerless to help himself, Taelas felt his throat constrict as Xranik pulled the young one up to eye level, so that Taelas could see his emerald orbs.

"Your scales may be purple, but you are a dragon like the rest of us. Some humility would do you good, and perhaps some self-restraint." Xranik said staring at the struggling dragon who was clawing desperately at Xranik's constricting grip. "Perhaps I should just kill you. The world may be better off."

Snarling Taelas swung his lower body up bringing his back paws to bear, and slashing with them across the onyx dragon's snout. The pain made Xranik lose his focus and his hold on Taelas fell away. The purple dragon flipped backwards, and beat his dark blue wings, while at the same time releasing a burst of lightning that smashed into the already stumbling black dragon. Taelas landed on the ground rather roughly as he gulped in air.

"Kill me? That's definitely not on the exam." Taelas said between breaths.

To both dragons' surprise, the stone wall burst open once more, stones flying across the floor. Through the hole Toriun appeared, glaring at Xranik.

"I would say that the young dragon is right." Toriun growled.

"I told you not to interrupt." Xranik snarled.

"Well it's a damn good thing I did! I don't know what you were planning, but we will find out, right now."

"I don't very much like that idea." Xranik replied as his form began to sink into the shadows that were strewn across the floor. "I'll come back for both of you, I promise." The black dragon said, just before he disappeared completely.

"Taelas, are you injured?" Toriun asked, his attention quickly turning to the young dragon.

"No more than I usually am." Taelas said as he picked himself up. "Thanks for the help."

"It was my pleasure, but what just transpired is unnerving, to think that he might have killed you, why?" Toriun asked in dismay. "Do you two have some sort of feud?"

Taelas shook his head. "I don't know, perhaps I'm worth more to someone than we know." Taelas suggested as he silently pondered the cultists who had so desperately wanted his blood.

"Perhaps." Toriun said watching the violet drake carefully. "But you are safe for now, that is good, and I am sure that your father and mother can protect you if need be."

"I don't think I need much of their protection anymore, I'm no whelp." Taelas answered.

"I think you have proven that." Toriun chuckled. "This was not the official test by any standards, but I believe that you have definitely proven yourself, so by my right as an overseer for the trial of adulthood I deem you more than worthy, congratulations Taelas you're a fully fledged adult now."

"Thanks Toriun, it means more than you know." Taelas nodded. "But if you don't mind I would like to go now, I have some things that I need to attend to."

"Of course, are you okay leaving on your own? I would be happy to acc-

"That's okay, thank you again for everything." Taelas said, as he slipped out the exit before he even finished his sentence.

Taelas sprinted through the halls of the now quiet school. The students had been let out already, all of them eager to leave for the break. Break was the furthest thing from Taelas' mind though as he skidded through the halls occasionally bursting into the air for extra speed. By his logic if Xranik had just attacked him, then someone may also be going after his friends, or worse his sister.

"So that's the story then, he just came back in the middle of the night all bloodied up?" Syra asked.

Aria nodded not having much energy left to speak, as she felt drained after the story. The azure dragoness peered over at Ridan, who had been silent since he had asked her to elaborate.

"Do you have anything to say about this Ridan, any guesses at all?" Aria asked.

The green dragon inhaled deeply, and then exhaled, leaving the two girls to wonder what he was up to. "I only have one thing to say." After another pause, he finished his sentence. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Aria asked in utter confusion.

The green-scaled dragon beat his tail against the ground one time, the physical movement sending a pillar of earth out of the path, which slammed into Syra knocking the breath out of her and leaving her to fall to the ground.

"Syra!" The blue-scaled dragoness screamed. Her voice was quickly cut off though as Ridan clamped down on her neck. Using his strength and size the earth dragon flung the girl around, letting her smash into a nearby building.

"I'm so sorry." He said again, as he walked over to the fallen dragoness.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Obviously, I haven't updated in some time. The reason being that I was losing interest in this story. The good news is that I think it may be coming back. But really what made me finish this chapter today is the fact that I would feel terrible not finishing this story. So hopefully I can begin updating on a regular basis again, but before I start to ramble I'm going to stop talking. Enjoy the chapter everyone.**

Aria's sight blurred as she gazed groggily at the approaching dragon. Ridan, a sad look on his face, stepped forward silently.

"What are you doing?" The dragoness coughed, as she moved to regain her footing.

Ridan didn't answer, he just stared at the dragoness solemnly, as if unable to conjure the words to explain.

"Get away from her!" Syra yelled jumping on the unsuspecting dragon's back before pulling him to the side. As they rolled over the ground, Syra kicked her hind legs pushing Ridan back several feet, and creating some distance between them.

Aria, having worked her way back to her paws, stood next to Syra staring at the earth dragon. "Ridan, what are you doing?" The dragoness asked, distressed.

"I'm doing what I have to do, Aria you have to come with me, now." The dragon said unable to look the others in the face.

"What do you want her for?" Syra asked her teeth gritted as if it didn't matter what his answer was anyway. Either way at this point, she would probably fight.

"I need her for my own reasons, I can't tell you." The dragon said, before moving his eyes to stare at Syra. "Please don't fight me over it; I don't want to hurt you."

"Are you really asking me not to protect my friend?" Syra blurted angrily.

"I need h-

"I've had enough! If you don't leave right now, I'll make you leave." Syra growled.

"I can't do- The dragon grunted in midsentence as Syra rammed him in his chest sending him back more than a few inches. Following closely behind the first attack, Syra clawed at the dragon leaving three long slash marks through Ridan's crest. Before she could attack again however the green earth dragon disengaged her.

The two stared at each other, neither saying a word. Behind her Syra could hear Aria getting back up slowly. Ridan sighed, his features portraying a sad look. "No choice." He whispered to himself.

The dragon stamped his front paws, sending out two chunks of cobblestone, before charging forward himself. While Syra managed to duck the stone Aria, who was still recovering, was taken by surprise and hit by the flying stone.

Syra didn't have time to worry about the dragoness, as Ridan was already upon her. His talons moving in a flurry, he had thrown caution to the wind, as he struck in a full out assault. Doing her best to dodge Syra found that she had no time for any counter attack. It wasn't until she was ridden with small wounds, and scratches that the crimson dragoness breathed a sweeping wave of fire forcing Ridan back, and giving herself a moments rest.

"Fool." Ridan mumbled slapping his paw on the ground sending a pillar of stone out of the ground and into Syra's temple. As the force hit her the dragoness stood very still, and Ridan was unsure if she had been affected. Just as he was about to strike again Syra's legs gave out suddenly sending her to the ground without a sound.

"Syra!" The ice dragoness screamed, she wanted nothing more than to run to her friend, but that would mean moving closer to Ridan. Instead, the dragoness backed away, on the verge of tears.

"What do you want with me?" She asked, as she forced the words.

"I just need you to come with me; I promise you won't be hurt." Ridan said calmly.

"No, not after what you just did." The dragoness said firmly shaking her head.

"It had to be done, I tried to warn her." Ridan snarled, as any of his previous kindness vanished. "Don't make me hurt you too, I will if I have to."

Aria shook her head as she continued to back away, she wanted to leave, but as her eyes flashed to her friend, who was still unconscious on the ground, she realized that she couldn't. Neither though, could she fight Ridan the dragon could easily overpower her.

With a shiver and a sorrowful sigh Aria spoke. "Ridan, I'll come with you." She said forcing the last words, which made the male take pause in his approach, he had honestly not expected cooperation. "I'll go with you, if you tell me why, you want me to, and what you need me for."

"I need you." The emerald dragon stopped for a moment, obviously conflicted about saying his motive. "I need you, to get to your brother." He said again after a moment.

Aria gawked at him and was about to blurt a response when out of nowhere another dragon tackled Ridan to the ground, sending both creatures tumbling around. Aria watched, astounded by the unexpected attack. After her shock was gone, the azure dragoness noted who it was that was fighting Ridan.

Ivarik lashed out leaving three claw marks covering Ridan's chest. The emerald dragon roared, and pushed him off, but as Ivarik was shoved away, he spun whipping his clubbed tail around, and slapping Ridan across the face dazing him.

As Ridan staggered back from the barrage of attacks, he turned to look at Ivarik. "Who the hell- The dragon couldn't finish his sentence as lightning coursed through his veins, and he fell to the ground panting.

"I'm not here to ask questions, I know what you are Ridan. Cultists have no place in this city or on this planet." Ivarik snarled, readying another electrical attack, one to kill the earth dragon.

"Wait! You can't just kill him!" Aria screamed. Despite the green dragon's attacks, she still felt that he should be given some degree of mercy, taken into custody at least.

The blue dragoness' voice made the teal give pause. Ridan, taking his chance charged his element, and loosed an earth spike, which shot forward stabbing Ivarik in his shoulder. The teal dragon roared in surprise as the stone stuck, piercing his shoulder. While he was distracted Ridan quickly took flight, speeding away into the distance.

Ivarik yelled a curse before gripping the spike in his maw, and yanking it out, leaving an open and now bleeding wound. The dragon cursed again before opening his wings and preparing to fly off.

"Wait!" Aria said sprinting up to the dragon and placing a paw on his unwounded shoulder. "You can't just go."

"You already caused me enough trouble dragoness; I'm not sticking around for more." Ivarik snorted pushing her paw off his shoulder.

"But my friend!" Aria pleaded, pointing to Syra who was still lying on the ground unconscious. "She needs help, she could die."

Ivarik stared at Aria with disdain, before finally turning to see Syra; the dragon could see her wounds, which were still bleeding. Ivarik muttered a curse, as he knew he could not leave her to die. "Where are we taking her to?" He asked reluctantly moving towards the dragoness.

"We can go to my house; my parents should know what to do." Aria said, keeping pace with him.

"Fine, lead the way." Ivarik muttered as he maneuvered the dragoness over his back.

Aria stalled for a moment before nodding. Turning around she began to walk off, checking a second later to make sure that he was in fact following after her. Aria was somewhat surprised that Ivarik had done anything to help her. It was well known that she was Taelas' sister, and just the other day Taelas had kicked Ivarik's tail. Perhaps the lightning dragon just didn't hold grudges, if so Aria had to commend him.

As they continued on Aria's curious nature, as usual, began to get the best of her. She slowly dropped back until she was walking parallel with the lightning dragon. Ivarik eyed her noting her movement, but saying nothing on the subject. He wasn't in the mood for conversation, he rarely was.

"Thank you, for helping us." Aria said.

Ivarik gave a small nod. "How much further?"

"It's just down the street." Aria explained pointing a claw towards her home, which was now visible. "Are you in a hurry?" She asked.

"Of course I am." Ivarik answered bluntly, sending a small pang of guilt through the dragoness.

"Where are you going?" She asked, hoping that she wasn't pressing too much.

"After that dragon, Ridan I think his name was."

"What? You can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because he…" The dragoness trailed off as she was going to protest that Ridan was her friend, but found that her argument was most likely invalid now.

"He what? Attacked you, tried to abduct you, hurt your friend?" The dragon asked, rattling off a list of problems with Ridan.

"He wasn't always like that." Aria argued.

"Doesn't matter, he's with the cult." Ivarik said bluntly.

"So you'll just kill him?"

"I'll do what I have to do." Ivarik growled clearly upset by Aria's many questions.

By that time, they had made it to Aria's home anyway, and the dragoness walked through the doorway, Ivarik following closely behind. Once inside, they were greeted by Cynder. The black dragon's usual pleasant face quickly contorted upon seeing the three dragons. "Aria, what happened?" She asked as she rushed over to her daughter and Ivarik.

"We got attacked." Aria said simply.

"Attacked?" The onyx dragoness asked exasperated.

"Yes, I'm fine, but Syra needs help." Aria said nodding to Ivarik, and the obvious figure of Syra, which lay across his back.

"Oh, ancestors." Cynder said sorrowfully. "Put her down over her if you could, uh…"

"Ivarik." The dragon said as he walked across the room, and lay the dragoness down gently on the floor.

"I guess you are the one that I have to thank for my daughter's safety." Cynder said.

"I, uh…" Ivarik stuttered, as he fumbled for an answer. He hadn't been there to save Aria or Syra, he had simply heard the fighting, and bits of the conversation. When he put it all together he knew that Ridan was part of the cult, and so he attacked, saving those two was just an unplanned benefit of his actions.

"Yes, he is the one to thank mother." Aria said finishing the sentence for the teal dragon, who nodded after a moment.

"You have my thanks, if you ever need a favor you can come to us, Ivarik." Cynder said, leaving the young dragon with a blank stare on his face, as he didn't know what to do or say. Cynder didn't pay him any attention though. "Ah, the good news is her wounds are not mortal. She isn't going to die." The dragoness said inspecting Syra's wounds. "This is nothing I can't fix, but she will be sore, and maybe have a scar or two. Not looking for an answer from either of the other two, Cynder grabbed a few bandages, and ointments from the adjacent room before returning.

The large black dragon took no time in beginning to bandage Syra's wounds, applying the ointment to the wool cloth before looping it around the wounds, and closing the bandages off with a tight knot. Cynder continued like this covering up the wounds she saw, and searching for more in the process.

"She certainly took a beating." Cynder said still going about her work. Her mother's comment made Aria wince; she was beginning to find herself at fault for the whole affair. Perhaps if she had just fought back she could have helped to prevent this.

"Aria." Cynder's serene voice snapped the dragoness from her internal conflict. "Can you hold this down for me?" The dragoness asked motioning to a strip of cloth that she was holding in her talons. As the blue dragoness took hold of the cloth she was surprised to see her mother's claws stained crimson.

"Your claws are covered in blood, are you sure she will be fine?" Aria asked worry seeping into her speech.

"She will be, I can assure you of that. She was losing blood, and bandaging wounds isn't exactly a clean task." Cynder said.

Ivarik listened as the two dragonesses continued to talk. They had definitely cut him out of the conversation, and had nearly forgotten him. Not that he was upset by that, in fact it was working in his favor. The teal dragon slowly turned around, being very careful to not let his talons click on the ground as he moved. As he was crossing the threshold out of the house the lightning dragon was suddenly knocked back, by someone who was much larger. At first fear coursed through his veins as he saw a massive purple dragon step through the doorway. The worry quickly subsided though as he knew it to be Spyro. The purple dragon looked down at Ivarik making him take a few hasty steps back.

"What's going on here?" The purple dragon asked his eyes moving from a wounded Syra to Ivarik, as if accusing the lightning dragon for what had happened.

"Oh Spyro, you're home, good. You didn't see Taelas on your way did you?" Cynder asked taking a step back from Syra, and approaching her mate.

"No I didn't, should I be worried?" Spyro asked his eyes still more focused on Ivarik as he only briefly acknowledged Cynder. "Tell me what happened."

"I don't much know Aria and Ivarik was it?" Cynder asked looking to the teal dragon who nodded stiffly. "They brought Syra back, she is wounded, but she will be okay. Who did you say did this Aria?" The dragoness questioned, realizing that as everything had been going on she had forgotten to ask for more details.

"I didn't say." Aria sighed, as if coming to terms with their attacker's identity. "It was Ridan; he wanted me to go with him."

"Wanted you to go with him?" Spyro asked clearly perturbed.

"Yes, but Ivarik here stopped him from doing so." Aria said throwing a little smile to the dragon, who simply stared at the ground shuffling his paws. He wasn't used to this kind of attention or thanks for that matter.

"It was nothing." The dragon said quietly.

"Hardly." Spyro said. "Hey look at me." The purple dragon said loudly, making Ivarik snap to attention like a soldier who was being addressed by a sergeant. "Thank you, if it weren't for you my daughter would be missing right now, and Syra would likely be dead."

Ivarik nodded, no words escaping to his pursed lips. Spyro eyed him for a moment longer, now with respect before turning back to his daughter. "You said that Ridan did this?"

"I am sure of it he came home with us from school." The dragoness said.

"Then we have to-

The purple dragon stopped midsentence as his son stepped through the entrance to the house. He looked like he was running out of breathe, but he was obviously trying to hide it.

"Taelas, thank the ancestors you are safe." Cynder said wrapping her son in a hug before he could speak a word.

"What happened?" Taelas asked after a few moments as he finally found his voice.

"Aria and Syra were attacked." Cynder explained gesturing to the two. It was then that Aria leapt forward and wrapped around her brother. "Please, don't let them take me, or you, or anyone. Just keep us safe." The dragoness said her voice cracking.

"It's okay Aria, no one is going to take you, or anyone." Taelas said trying to calm his sibling.

"What happened to them, how did they escape?" Taelas asked looking to Spyro as Aria was still hanging around his neck.

"Perhaps he could tell you, the purple dragon said gesturing his head to Ivarik, who looked even more awkward now than he did earlier. He clearly hadn't forgotten about their scuffle at the academy and neither had Taelas, making the situation even more awkward for the teal colored drake

The young purple dragon slowly removed Aria, leaving her to wonder what was going on and crossed the room to the other dragon who did not move.

"Why are you in our house?" The purple dragon asked his voice low.

"Because I was invited inside." Ivarik quipped.

"Taelas please don't fight with him." Aria said stepping between the two. "He saved both of our lives." Aria said nodding to Syra who was still lying still.

"That's fine he has my thanks, but I want him to leave, now." Taelas answered.

"Why?" Cynder asked not understanding her son's sudden display of anger.

"We have a bit of a history." Ivarik answered speaking for the purple dragon.

"Who did this?" Taelas asked looking to both Aria and Ivarik for an answer. Aria shook her head sadly not wanting to give her brother an answer.

"It was Ridan, an old friend of yours if I remember correctly." Ivarik said after a moment's pause.

"I don't believe you." Taelas growled, the accusation making his blood boil.

"It's true." Said an unexpected voice. Syra rose up halfway leaning on one forelimb to stay up. "It was Ridan who attacked. As the dragoness spoke, Cynder rushed over to her.

"Are you feeling alright Syra?" The dragoness asked.

"A little worse for wear but I'll be okay." The dragoness mumbled.

"Alright, then you sleep now, you need rest, we'll get your parents over here soon." Cynder said gently running her talons across the dragoness' face.

"No, now…isn't the…time to…sleep." The dragoness argued, but she was obviously fading fast and within a few more minutes, she was back into slumber.

"Why did Ridan attack you?" Taelas asked, continuing on ignoring the interruption.

"He wanted to take Aria; I imagine they would use her to get at you." Ivarik answered quickly.

"They?" The dragon asked.

"He is a member of the cult that has been coming up recently." Ivarik answered bluntly.

"I need to find him then." Taelas said turning to leave the house, only to find Spyro baring his way.

"Move." The dragon said.

"I won't let you go out and find him; you are in enough danger as it is." Spyro argued.

"I can handle it, besides I'm an adult now so you can't keep me from going anywhere." Taelas retorted.

"You passed the test?" Spyro asked his brows rising.

"Yes I did, so move." Taelas said forcefully pushing past his father. As he was about to leave the purple dragon turned back to Cynder who wore a face of worry and astonishment. "Take care of them for me, I'll be back soon." The dragon said, referring to Syra and Aria. He didn't give Cynder a chance to speak before he moved out of the house. He feared that if he stayed to long Spyro or Cynder would do something to make him stay.

The dragon having left Ivarik spoke up. "I'm going with him." The dragon said.

"No, we can't let you, what about your parents." Cynder said. The statement made Ivarik laugh.

"What do you mean? My parents don't even know who I am." The dragon said before stepping out of the house. Leaving the dragons in the room with a sense of wonder at what he meant exactly.

Taelas flew through the evening sky, seeing many other dragons flying back to their houses for the night. It only took him a few seconds of flying to realize that someone was following him. The purple drake set down on the high roof of a nearby building, and turned around to face Ivarik who was touching down.

"Why are you still following me?" The dragon asked angrily. "No one else is around now; if you don't leave I might just make you."

"You know for being a purple dragon, who are supposed to be keepers of peace you sure are angry a lot." Ivarik said as he landed and faced the dragon. "But I'm not here to fight you, I'm here to help you."

"I don't need your help." Taelas retorted.

"Really?" The dragon asked. "Alright then tell me, where are you going right now?"

The purple dragon gave no response, having none to give.

"I thought so. Look, I don't have any quarrel with you, and I want to find this cult as much as you do. I think it would be in both of our interests to work together."

Taelas was silent for a few moments, as he stared at the dragon with a heated glare. He didn't want to admit it but Ivarik was likely right, and it would give him an easier time.

"Fine, but you do what I say, or else this partnership will have an untimely end." Taelas said, and Ivarik nodded. "Where do you think they'll be?"

"I've been watching more than a few dragons recently, and my guess is a small place just outside of Warfang. They seem to meet there quiet a lot, I don't know why though. It's some sort of ruins, probably a building that was destroyed in Malefor's time." The teal dragon explained.

"Alright, then let's get going." Taelas said.

"One thing first." Ivarik said making Taelas turn back to him. "We have to be careful about this. I know you want to confront Ridan, but if there are, too many we can't just rush in. Be tactful is what I'm saying, I guess."

"We'll be fine, I'm not that irrational."

"Forgive me if I don't fully agree with you on that." Ivarik said, but Taelas hardly heard him as he was already soaring away, Ivarik following close behind.

The two dragons cleared the city wall in moments and came upon the structure that Ivarik had mentioned. It appeared to Taelas that it was a half-burnt tower. A fair deal of the structure was still intact but the rest was simply a wooden skeleton that was littered with debris.

The two dragon's landed on the top remnants of the tower, standing there nimbly, and gazing down below. At first neither saw anything, but as night began to fall, and grow deeper and darker one single dragon appeared, one that Taelas knew very well.

"He's alone, we should go now." Taelas said.

"More could easily show up, he is likely meeting someone here." Ivarik warned, as he kept his voice low.

"Then we will deal with them later." Taelas said not giving the dragon time to reply before he leapt off his perch, and went into a freefall. Taelas landed on the ground at full speed, sending out a tremor, his power over the earth making it crack and tear. The dragon, unharmed by the fall, had landed directly in front of a now surprised and scared Ridan. Ivarik not having the power to simply fall out of the sky glided down landing gracefully next to the purple dragon.

"What are you doing Ridan?" Taelas asked his eyes narrowed.

"Taelas what are you doing here? What's going on?" The dragon asked trying to play dumb.

"We know what you did dragon, I was there, and I'll be damned if I let you lie about it to my face." Ivarik growled.

"Why did you do it?" Taelas asked his voice stern.

"I can't tell you!" Ridan retorted. "They'll kill me!"

"If you don't say something I'll kill you!" The purple dragon yelled.

Ridan dashed forward catching Taelas by surprise, and bashing him away. Taking no pause, the earth dragon swept his claw across in front of him. Ivarik dodged the physical attack, but with it came chunks of rock, swept up by the dragon's claw. The rocks pelted the lightning dragon putting him off guard. Ridan spun around, and landed a solid blow with his tail knocking the dragon over.

While he had been distracted though Taelas had gotten back up. The purple drake cursed himself for letting his anger get the best of him. Taelas hurtled forward, and jumped just before he made contact with the opposing dragon who swung his talons out before him. While in the air Taelas flipped forward bringing the flat of his tail down like a weapon, and slamming the dragon's head stunning him. He had to avoid killing the dragon in hopes of extracting some information from him.

While Ridan stumbled Ivarik took his chance and loosed his element, letting lightning course through the dragon, shocking him until he began to see smoke peeling off the dragon's body, only then did he let go of his element, leaving it to crackle and fade.

Ridan collapsed to the ground coughing in pain. He still twitched as the excess energy made its way out of his body. Taelas placed the bladed tip of his tail on the dragon's forehead, poised to plunge it down at a moment's notice.

"Now tell us why you attacked my sister and Syra." Taelas said forcefully.

"I c-c-can't." The dragon said as the lightning made him stutter.

"Think of it this way Ridan you might as well do something good before you die, perhaps you will earn some grace with the ancestors." Taelas said darkly.

"You wouldn't kill me." Ridan argued.

"No, but I bet Ivarik would, he seems to have no problem in that area, and he really hates cultists." Taelas said as Ivarik gave a devilish grin. "Or you could tell us what we want to know, and I would be inclined to let you live."

There was a long pause as Ridan tried to make up his mind. The dragon felt that he had no choice. "Fine I'll tell you just let me up."

Taelas nodded and removed his tail. "Ivarik, if he makes one false move, kill him."

Ridan coughed as he slowly worked his way back to a sitting position. "Funny how just the other day we were the best of friends you and I." Ridan said staring at Taelas.

"If I had known then what I do now, we would have never been friends." Taelas hissed. "Now tell me why you did it."

"I was told to kidnap your sister, and bring her back. We were going to use her as bait, because we needed-

"My blood." Taelas interrupted.

"How did you know?" The emerald dragon asked astounded.

"I've met with your cult on more than one occasion Ridan; they're crazed fanatics, why you would throw your lot in with them I don't understand." Taelas said shaking his head, almost feeling sorry for his old friend. "Why do you need my blood?" He asked after a pause.

Ridan hesitated to answer. Telling them the plan to capture Aria was one thing, but this could reveal their entire plan. The green dragon took a slow step back and was met with a bolt of lightning striking the ground in front of him. Ridan looked up to see more of the deadly lightning crackling in Ivarik's maw.

"Think very hard about this Ridan." Taelas said. "Why do you need my blood?"

"We…we need it to fuel a ritual." Ridan said forcing the words.

"What ritual, what are you going to do?" Taelas asked his anxiousness for answers beginning to show in his voice.

"We are going to…" The dragons cut off, the seriousness of what he was revealing weighing in. "We are going to sum-

Ridan was suddenly cut off, as Taelas and Ivarik jumped back several paces at seeing the cause. A large bladed tail cut down piercing the back of Ridan's skull, killing him midsentence.

"No!" Taelas said slamming the ground with his paw in frustration.

"A pity really." The unknown dragon said, using his tail to throw the lifeless earth dragon's body away. "He seemed to have a real calling, a good fighter too."

"Why did you do it?" Ivarik snarled.

"He would tell you our plans. Would you not do the same in my position?" The golden scaled dragon asked.

"You are a monster, you don't even deserve to live." Taelas growled.

"Perhaps, but you are not the one to decide that, are you?" The dragon sneered.

Before either could react, the adult lunged forward grabbing Ivarik and tossing him into the tower, leaving it to crumble where he made impact. Ivarik landed roughly debris falling on top of him.

Taelas fared no better as the lightning dragon fired a bolt of energy, which connected directly with Taelas' body. The cultist kept the attack up shocking Taelas all the while. After a long minute the voltage overcame him, and Taelas collapsed on the ground, incapable of movement, and temporarily paralyzed.

The golden dragon bent down to Taelas, and extracted a glass vial from a small satchel that he held. With a single talon, the cultist stabbed the purple drake drawing a trickle of blood. Holding the vial steady the red liquid slowly seeped down into the vial. Once he had what he considered to be a fair amount the cultist brought the vial back and capped it.

"I suppose that I could kill you now." He said dangling his tail across Taelas head, sending a shiver of fear down his spine. "But then you would not see the glory that is about to become real. This planet will be altered; in fact, I invite you to see it with your own eyes. Find us tomorrow in the large glade in the western wilds outside of the Warfang. Perhaps then you will appreciate what we are doing for this place."

Taelas then watched as the lightning dragon spread his wings revealing the cult symbol that was seared into one of them. A moment later he was gone flying away into the distant night sky.

**A/N: One last quick thing to the person who asked me to update (you know who you are) thanks it was sort of like a wakeup call to keep going with this story.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Wow, a month…well better late than never I suppose. I think that this chapter took so long because I didn't really enjoy writing it, but hopefully you will like reading it more than I did writing it.**

Feeling returned to his body with a jolt. Taelas screamed in agony as his limbs regained their sensitivity. Electricity snapped around the dragon's figure searing and jolting him. The sensation continued rendering the dragon virtually immobile. There was a crumbling sound in the distance, though Taelas could give it very little attention, due to his situation.

Suddenly, the dragon's pain lessened noticeably, and his eyes snapped open at the first instant. Taking in a large breath the dragon sat up half-way, to meet excruciating pain. His vision hazed in and out, black spots piercing his sight. With a rasping cough he tried to focus and turned to see Ivarik standing before him, lightning crackling in his teeth.

Thinking that the attack was aimed at him Taelas turned away trying to bring up his wing in a feeble defense. There was a loud crackle, and a burst of light as the electricity shot forward past Taelas and into the ground. Earth shattered and sent smaller bits through the air pelting the two dragons.

Taelas whipped his head back around, sending out a few sparks from his, still, overcharged scales. "What was th-

The dragon stopped speaking midsentence as Ivarik placed three talons at three different points on his head. Again the pain that coursed Taelas' body diminished significantly, this time it seemed to disappear all together, leaving him feeling sore all over, and a little tired. As if losing the lightning energy had somehow fatigued him.

Ivarik turned his head again, and spat to the side, sending out small flares of electricity. A moment later he acknowledged the purple dragon once more. "What were you saying?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I was asking what you were doing." Taelas reiterated, although at this point he already had a clue as to what Ivarik had just done.

"I siphoned the electrical energy out of your body, before it could cook you from the inside out." Ivarik said. "Although, I think I might have taken a bit too much from you. Would you like me to put it back?" He asked a few sparks bouncing between his fangs.

"No, that's fine. I'll be fine." Taelas said quickly, shaking his head as he stood up slowly, shaking slightly as he moved. "About what just happened, I'm sorry, I acted too quickly, and jumped right in to confront Ridan, you were right we should have waited, perhaps this could have been avoided." Taelas said looking at the earth dragon's corpse which lay nearby.

"Wow, I never thought I would see the day when you would tell me that I was right and you were wrong." The cyan dragon said a snide edge to his voice.

"Don't push it." Taelas said his mood changing back to its usual self. "I give credit where credit is due, nothing more; I still don't really like you."

"I can live with that." Ivarik said his eyes narrowed. "What do you suggest we do now?" The dragon asked.

"That cultist, I've seen him before. He must be significant to the cult." Taelas said ignoring Ivarik's tone.

"Alright, and you are telling me this because?" Ivarik asked, expecting some dramatic conclusion.

"He told us where they were meeting tomorrow night. He also got my blood." Taelas said touching the wound on his side with a paw, blood smeared the scales at the spot, he ignored the pain of the wound. "They have wanted my blood for as long as I have seen them, but I don't know why. Now they have it, and whatever they plan to do with it will probably happen tomorrow. So I am going there, and I am going to stop them." The dragon said.

Picking up on the purple dragon's speech, Ivarik cocked his head to the side. "You will be the only one going there?"

"Just me." The dragon said firmly.

"Either you really do hate me a lot or you're just dumb." Ivarik said.

"You aren't coming." Taelas answered with a slight growl.

"You can't stop me dragon. I know where they are, I can go myself."

Taelas didn't answer he didn't have an argument for the drake. Over the short time he had known him, Taelas could tell that the teal dragon was dead set on this endeavor. Smart and fierce in combat, perhaps he wasn't as bad as Taelas had made him out to be, but he wasn't about to change his opinion on the dragon yet, he still had plenty of proving to do.

"Why is it that you care so much?" Taelas asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" The teal dragon responded.

"I mean about this cult, you say that you want them dead, but I have seen no motive. You have no reason other than hatred, blind hatred." Taelas said. "But there has to be something fueling that."

"I have a motive for doing this Taelas, whether you see it or not, I do not care." Ivarik spat.

"What is it then, it's not like you have to keep it a secret." Taelas pressed.

"You don't need to know the whole story; I'll give you the short version." Ivarik said. "This cult killed someone. Someone close to me, the only person I have ever known to give a damn about me." The dragon growled, the very retelling of the story bringing rage to his voice. "The dragon who killed him was named Malik, a poison dragon, green scales, tan crest. His cultist mark is splayed on his crest, right here." The dragon said tapping a claw on the top right corner of his crest. "There in clear sight for all to see. He killed the only person that I have ever cared about, and now I'm going to kill him."

Taelas didn't respond for a while, pondering the story he had just been told. "Is that enough motive for you?" Ivarik asked begrudgingly.

"I wasn't asking you to prove yourself." Taelas growled.

"Then what were you asking?" Ivarik questioned angrily quickly losing his patience.

"Nothing, I simply wanted to know your reason to fight. If you fight without purpose you have already lost." Taelas said looking away from the dragon as he spoke. Ivarik stood stunned, what the purple dragon had just told him amazed him. The statement seemed as if it would come from an elder not someone who was only just a teenager. "I know you weren't asking, but you can come with me, Ivarik." Taelas said. The teal dragon nodded blankly seemingly unable to speak a word.

"Come on, let's get back." Taelas said opening his wings and flexing them.

"What's your motive Taelas?" Ivarik asked suddenly. Hearing the words Taelas stalled for a moment before launching away, kicking up dust in his flight as he left. Ivarik pondered the drake for only a moment before leaping into the air as well.

The flight back was short and silent. Taelas hardly watched where he flew; his mind was preoccupied on so many other things that he could have flown into something without noticing. His mind was still reeling from the things that had happened. Over the past week his life had become hectic. With cultists running wild, his family under attack, best friends turning against him, and corruption throughout the city he could hardly focus his thoughts.

By the time that they landed outside his doorstep the dragon had still not reasoned anything out, and so he gave up his efforts. Suddenly feeling exhausted the dragon stepped through his front door Ivarik following him inside.

His family was still in the front room, Syra was still asleep on her pillow, but she looked as though she was at rest now. A few feet away Spyro lay on the ground, head in the air, and eyes wide open, obviously waiting for his son to return, before he would go to sleep. Cynder lie curled up close beside him, and Aria beside her, both of the dragonesses' being asleep.

"Are you alright Taelas?" Spyro asked his voice low as to not wake anyone.

"I'm okay, and so is Ivarik." The purple dragon responded.

"Good, but what of Ridan, I do not see him with you." Spyro said already assuming the worst.

"We found him but…" Taelas trailed off, unable to speak of what had happened.

"We confronted him, he was talking to us about the cult, but another dragon, a higher up, killed him." Ivarik grunted.

"He is dead?" Spyro asked as if he didn't believe the two, and needed to hear it again.

Taelas was about to respond as his sister yawned, and rolled out across the floor. Sprawling out and stretching the dragoness was obviously unaware of the others in the room. Finally standing up and opening her tired eyes she asked, "What's going o-…oh hi." She said awkwardly, seeing Taelas and Ivarik staring at her.

"Right, he is dead." Taelas said turning back to his father and ignoring his sister.

"Who is?" The dragoness asked looking from Taelas to her father and back. "Is Ridan dead? Did you kill him?" She asked exasperated.

"He's dead, but we didn't kill him." Ivarik confirmed. "Another cultist did."

"It won't look like that; people will think that you killed him. Cynder and I will talk to his parents, but I don't know what I can do."

"Are they going to get arrested?" Aria asked.

Spyro was silent for a few moments, as he weighed the seriousness of the situation, finding it to be quiet incriminating. "The guards will try to arrest you unless we can convince them otherwise."

"That shouldn't be hard; you are both purple dragons that should be more than enough to vouch for us." Ivarik argued.

"Normally I would agree with you, but in this case a dragon lays dead and you two were the only ones there to tell what happened. It doesn't look good." Spyro said. "Also being a purple dragon does not give you immunity to the law."

"But you won't let the guard take Taelas will you dad?" Aria asked fear audible in his voice.

"I can try but at this point nothing is certain." Spyro said, leaving a silence in the room so thick you could slice it, realizing a few moments later that no one else was speaking up the purple dragon spoke another question. "Did you find anything out when you talked to Ridan?"

Ivarik opened his mouth to speak but Taelas cut him off. "We were talking to him to make him hopefully relinquish anything he knew but as we were nearing the point where he might tell us something of use, he was killed. Right Ivarik?" The dragon asked turning to the dragon and cocking his head, his eyes narrowing only slightly enough for Ivarik to see.

"Yea, the dragon that killed him came from nowhere, one second Ridan was alive and the next he was dead." Ivarik said momentarily playing along with Taelas.

"Well, there isn't any use thinking about it now, get to sleep I imagine you'll need it. Ivarik you are welcome to stay if you like." Spyro said. Hearing his father's words Taelas' eyes widened slightly, as he didn't want the lightning dragon around anymore than he had to be. In a fight he was useful but staying in his house was a different matter. Taelas didn't say anything, but instead walked away retiring to his room.

"Thank you Spyro, but I think that I have already overstayed my welcome. I'll head out for the night." Ivarik said turning for the door.

"As you wish." Spyro said nodding. Aria, who had watched the brief conversation transpire looked to her father, and then back to Ivarik who had just crossed the threshold of the house. Torn the dragoness tried to decide on a course of action. After what seemed like minutes to her she ran out the door after the dragon. Spyro watched her curiously, but didn't speak. A faint grin appeared on his face as he thought.

"Ivarik wait!" Aria said. The teal dragon, sighed, and folded his widely spread wings.

"What is it?" The dragon asked tiredly as he turned on his paw.

"You, you shouldn't go." Aria said stuttering very slightly.

"And why not?" Ivarik asked curious, as he noted that the dragoness seemed to be acting odd.

"Because, it's dangerous." The azure dragoness explained. "The cult could be anywhere; they could try to kill you."

"I think that I will be fine."

"But you don't know that." Aria argued.

"Why would you care so much anyway? We have known each other for less than a day."

"That doesn't matter Ivarik, I mean, you saved by life today, please I want to do something to make it up to you." Aria explained looking down at her paws as she spoke.

"You feel as though you owe me something?" The dragon questioned, legitimately curious.

"I…I suppose I do." Aria said after pondering the drake's statement for a moment.

"I suppose I can relieve you of your debt, although you should know that I didn't act in the hopes of gaining anything. You owe me nothing Aria." The dragon explained a smile flickering across his features.

"Oh, I, well, thank you." The dragoness sputtered as she tried to speak coherently. Ivarik chuckled at the girl, doing his best to not show the emotion.

Greeted by the ice dragoness' questioning face Ivarik answered her unasked question. "You look funny when you are flustered." He said still smiling.

"I do not." The dragoness said faking a scornful tone. Giving the dragon a playful shove she continued. "Now come on let's get inside, its chilly out here."

"As you wish." Ivarik laughed.

As they made their way to house, Ivarik spoke. "You have my thanks Aria." Ivarik said his tone suddenly serious.

"Oh, I, alright." The dragoness stuttered, unprepared for the sudden change. There was a short pause between the two as neither knew what to say. "You can stay in our room, it's rather large anyway." Aria explained after a moment, getting a nod in response from the teal dragon.

Ivarik followed her inside and turned in the direction of the staircase. As they passed by Spyro he appeared to be asleep, but in reality, he was not. The dragon made no moves, he had no desire to startle them, the only reason he was still awake was to ensure that his family was safe.

The two dragons went up the staircase and Aria turned into her joint bedroom. Taelas was already asleep near to the balcony in the room. Ivarik looked at him with scorn, but said nothing, he didn't much care for the idea of sleeping anywhere near to the dragon. As Aria lay down on a nearby pillow the dragon put his thoughts aside for the night and fell laid down as well. Sleep took him quickly as it had been a long day and an equally long one tomorrow.

Spyro and Cynder both woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, but strangely apprehensive. The morning went by in relatively silent, Cynder seeming rather saddened, by what Spyro didn't know.

"Taelas didn't come home last night." The dragoness said quietly. "What do you think happened?" Cynder asked softly as she turned to Spyro.

The purple dragon looked at her with confusion. "Cynder what are you talking about?" He asked.

"Our son." The dragoness said her voice hardening suddenly. "I know you are at odds with him, but you could at least remember what happened."

Spyro looked at her scornfully, making the dragoness regret her outburst. "Spyro I'm s-

"It's okay." Spyro said recovering from his temporary slip of emotions. "I know that Taelas, and I don't always see eye to eye, but I would never forget about him." The purple-scaled dragon said. "He is upstairs along with Ivarik. They came home last night; you were sleeping so I didn't wake you."

"You didn't?" The dragoness asked outraged, and pushed Spyro, although the motion hardly moved the adult dragon. Spyro shrugged having no answer, as Cynder sprinted through the room down the hall and into her son and daughter's room.

There was a moment of silence and then Spyro heard a small crash, and a yelp that came from his son. With a small smirk on his face the dragon moved about, going to find food to feed his family.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Taelas asked as he lay on the ground, the onyx dragoness smothering him.

"I was worried about you, I wasn't sure if you would come back." The dragoness said quietly, still hugging him. "Taelas I'm not sure what I would do if I were to outlive one of my children."

"Don't say that, mom; you know I'll be fine." The violet dragon assured her.

"Sometimes I don't know Taelas." Cynder said backing off of the purple drake, and allowing him to stand up. "I want to think that, but in truth I worry."

"It's a mother's right, but you have to know that I can take care of myself. Nothing is going to happen to me, or even to Aria." Taelas said trying to calm her.

"Ancestor's I hope that you are right." Cynder said. "I am going to go find your father; he has probably already left to find food. Just promise me one thing Taelas," And the dragoness paused making what she had to say seem all the more important. "Taelas promise me that you won't go looking for trouble, not with this cult, and not with anyone else."

Taelas stared back at her, at a loss for words. His lips moved to speak, but no sound came. He knew he couldn't say that, he couldn't promise her anything, not truthfully at least.

"I-I promise." The dragon said forcing the words, which tasted horrible in his mouth. Cynder nodded and gave him a light kiss on his forehead, before leaving the room.

Once she was an ample distance from them Taelas cursed to himself. He felt horrible for making his parents worry, but he had to do what he knew he should. He would still go to whatever meeting the cultist's had planned for tonight, despite anything that Cynder or Spyro told him. Already feeling weary the dragon looked across the room to see Aria and Ivarik. The teal dragon was already standing but Aria was stretching out after her good night's sleep.

"What is he doing here?" Taelas asked walking over to Aria eying the lightning dragon all the while.

"I invited him to stay the night." Aria said defensively. "Why does that bother you?"

"A little." Taelas muttered, looking from her to Ivarik and back.

"Why does it matter, I thought that we had settled our differences last night?" Ivarik stated.

"Not having a problem with you, and you sleeping in my house are two very different things." Taelas answered.

"Taelas, if you don't like him then fine, but I have no problem with Ivarik." Aria said moving to stand closer to the drake.

Taelas stared at her for a moment, as silence fell over the room. Finally the purple dragon sighed, and waved his paw, having no further arguments, at least none that he choose to open up now.

"Don't worry about him Ivarik, he is just touchy all the time, and he doesn't much care for new people." Aria explained.

"Ya, I figured as much." Ivarik said staring at Taelas and rolling his eyes.

"Who's the new guy?" A familiar voice from the hall said, interrupting Taelas's retort.

"Syra!" Aria said excitedly, as she ran over to her best friend, and hugged her, almost toppling the still wounded dragoness.

"Hi." The dragoness said wincing slightly at Aria's impact. Feeling her friend's discomfort Aria backed away immediately and looked her friend's bandages over. "Are you alright Syra, should you be up and about?"

"I'm fine, just a little sore." The dragoness laughed. "But like I said, who is this?" The dragoness asked again pointing a lone black claw at Ivarik.

"He is a friend." Aria answered.

"That's debatable." Taelas responded.

"My presence comes with mixed feelings." The teal dragon answered looking at Syra. "My name is Ivarik."

"And you are the one who saved me?" Syra asked looking him over.

Ivarik felt her eyes running down his form, and paused awkwardly. "Yes, I saved you I suppose." The dragon said shifting back and forth.

"Syra." Taelas said jogging the dragoness' mind. "Not that I don't want you here, but shouldn't you be at your home, with your parents?" Taelas asked.

"You never were very subtle Taelas." The dragoness chided. "No, while you were out last night they came here to see me. It was decided that I should stay here instead of being moved."

"Oh." Taelas said at a loss of words, because of the dragoness' statement.

"So now what?" Syra asked. "I mean what did I miss?"

The others looked at each other, knowing the story already. Over the course of the next hour they explained to Syra what had happened. Everything was told to her, only Taelas held back some information, the things that no one, but him knew, what he considered to be private.

"So now they are going to perform some blood ritual?" Syra asked digesting all of the information that she had heard.

"It seems that way; we are going there tonight to find out what they are going to do, maybe even stop them." Ivarik said, and Taelas nodded in agreement.

"Wait I don't remember hearing either of you talk about that to our parents." Aria said addressing Taelas.

"No, I didn't tell them, and they aren't going to find out." Taelas said sternly, bringing a questioning look from his sister. "They have already worried too much on my account; I'm not going to make it any worse."

"Taelas you can't just do that!" Aria protested.

"And why not?" The dragon asked angrily.

"Because it doesn't help! They will find out what you've done. They'll know and they will be even more worried about you because you are charging off into danger without even consulting with them."

"I don't need their permission."

"I never said that you did, I'm just asking that you try to think about us, about everyone else. This isn't just about you. You can't keep secrets and leave us in the dark!" Aria said angrily.

There was a sharp silence as the dragoness' words faded. None of the dragons spoke. Ivarik and Syra didn't know what to do or say, as they felt it wasn't their place to do anything. The steady silence was eventually broken by the sounds of claws on stone tiles. Spyro and Cynder emerged in the doorway not long after, both oblivious to the events that had been transpiring.

"Taelas, Aria." The large purple dragon said grabbing the sibling's attention. "We are going to see Ridan's family; they need to know what happened."

"I'll come with you, it's only right that I do." Taelas said moving forward and Ivarik began to follow in suit.

"No, I want you both to stay here. If the story you are telling is true then this is neither of your faults. Although, I still want to take caution, I do not want anyone to lash out against you." Spyro explained.

"Syra, Ivarik, you are both welcome to stay as long as you wish." Cynder added. "We will probably not be back until early evening."

"Take care." Spyro said as he, and his mate exited the room and proceeded down the hall.

As the adults left the attention turned back to the previous matters. It was almost a minute before any of the dragons spoke again.

"Taelas, I-

"Forget it Aria, just forget it." Taelas said turning, and walking across the room towards the balcony.

Aria would have none of it though and ran to catch up to her brother grabbing his arm. "You can't just forget this Taelas. You have to do something about it eventually."

Taelas shook the dragoness away, a small amount of his strength easily loosening her grip. He said nothing as he stepped out onto the balcony and dived off the edge, disappearing from sight.

"Don't worry about him, he is just-

"Just what, being moody?" Aria asked cutting off Syra. "He's being stupid, but nothing I say will stop him."

"Then perhaps he should learn for himself." Syra said doing her best to not lose her own temper. Aria's brow furled at the words. A sense of frustration and helplessness setting in. The dragoness fell silent and retreated from the room, her steps fading as she went, leaving Ivarik and Syra standing awkwardly in the large room.

"Everyone seems just a little temperamental today." Syra said looking to the teal dragon.

"Are they always like this?" Ivarik asked turning his head to look at the dragoness.

"Sometimes, you get used to it." Syra said shrugging. "You want to grab something to eat?"

"Uh, sure I guess." The dragon said hesitantly. He was still unsure about all of these dragons that he had found his way to.

The day passed in a haze of relaxation afterwards. It felt good for Ivarik to not worry about all of the pressing matters at hand, but at the same time he was consumed with apprehension, so much so that even Syra began to take notice of it. As a response she gave him a small slap on his head to stop him from overanalyzing and worrying about the situation.

Later that afternoon as the evening began to set in, the two were sitting back in Taelas and Aria's room.

"Are you sure that Taelas will come back here?" Ivarik asked laying on his back and staring up at the vaulted ceiling.

"You said that he wanted you to come with him tonight did you not?" Syra responded.

"Yeah, let's just hope that he actually keeps to his word. If not I guess I'll have to go on my own." The teal dragon said rolling his eyes.

"Hey, don't underestimate him." Syra said sitting up and grabbing Ivarik's attention. "Taelas may look angry, and upset all the time, but he has a good heart, and he keeps his promises."

"Do I now?" Taelas asked, as he approached the two. He had come in silently from the balcony. His voice nearly made Syra jump out of her scales as she turned and hit him playfully.

"Don't scare me like that!" She said.

"Be more attentive." Taelas countered, and the dragoness rolled her eyes to the typical response.

"So are we going now?" Ivarik asked standing up.

Taelas nodded. "I want to head out there early to make sure that we can find it, and so that we don't miss whatever happens."

"Sounds like an apt idea." Ivarik said joining him.

"Wait." The red dragoness said grabbing both the others attention. "I want to come with you." Syra said longingly.

"I don't know if that is a good idea." Taelas responded.

"I wasn't asking for your permission. I'm going." Syra said authority in her voice.

"Noted." Taelas said not thrilled about the idea. "One condition, if there is any sign of trouble you run back here as fast as you can, I'm not letting you die on account of me."

"You think that we could die?" Syra said her firm demeanor diminished by the thought.

"I don't know, they seemed to have no trouble trying to kill me, or Ivarik, or even you and Aria." Taelas said.

"I heard my name." Aria said stepping through the doorway. "What are you talking about?" She asked eyeing Taelas and the others suspiciously.

"We are going to see this cult." Syra said answering for the purple dragon.

"Syra, you are going?" The dragoness asked astounded.

"I am, you are welcome to join us." The dragoness answered, with a small smile.

"No, she is not." Taelas said cutting off her sister before she could answer.

"Why not?" The blue dragoness said anger tinting her voice.

"Because, someone has to stay here, to tell mom and dad where we have gone." Taelas answered. "So they won't worry."

Aria growled, frustrated at having her own words turned against her. She had no argument against him though.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you everything when we come back." Syra offered.

"Just make sure that you come back." Aria said although she sounded more angry than worried when she spoke.

Ivarik and Syra nodded while Taelas leapt away falling off the balcony, and cutting through the air. Dusk was setting as they traveled away from the security of the city, and into the surrounding woods beyond. Flying westward they could watch the sun shrink away falling from view. With it darkness set in gradually but slowly.

Not knowing what they were looking for exactly Ivarik was the first to spot the clearing. Surrounded by tall foliage the opening in the forest was clearly dotted with fire and dragons. Knowing that this must be the ritual Taelas quickly spiraled off to the side flying downward and arching to the side. He continued like this until he came within fifty feet of the ground to which he leveled out and skidded to a stop landing on all fours.

The other two landing behind him Taelas quietly picked his way forward until he was just behind the tree line to see the ritual. Dragons moved all about. There were plenty there that if they were caught they would likely be killed, or at the least captured.

Xranik looked to his friend Valas, the yellow dragon nodding. Agreeing that the time was upon them, Xranik nodded back to his friend before calling out for two other dragons, one being a large green scaled dragon, and the other being a slender dragoness.

Each took their position forming a square with a very large area between them. The others in the area stopped what they were doing, whether that be talking or drawing symbols in the grass. They all knew that it was ready it was finally time.

Watching as the others settled down, Xranik's eyes shifted between the three near to him and the others out further. "My friends tonight, tonight is the night that we bring about a new age!" He began. "All of our hard work has paid off. All of the toil and secrecy, the killing and stealing, has brought us to this point. While some may look down upon us for what we have done, we know that we are the true heroes of our time, and that we shall be rewarded for our service, when the new world dawns!"

The dragons in the circle cheered wildly as Xranik said the final word. From the woods the younger dragons looked in horror, each trying to understand what was about to happen. The fact alone that so many followed this cult and obeyed without question was enough to make them worry. The dawn of a new world was a very large thing for a group like this to accomplish. As the dragon's thought about what was going to happen they realized that there would be no need as Xranik was about to perform the ritual. Taelas considered jumping from his spot to stop them but even he realized that he could not possibly stop so many. As his thoughts whirled Taelas felt another wrap around him, as Syra scooted closer so that their sides were touching, and grabbed his paw in hers. Not wanting to break the silence with words Taelas continued to watch the scene unfold, allowing Syra to rest against him.

"Now, I ask you all for quiet, as we proceed." Xranik said, and immediately the crowd fell silent. It occurred to Taelas only then the authority that Xranik must hold.

The black dragon stepped to the center of the ritual circle, and placed two crystals, one being the color of ash and the other a milky white. After placing the crystals he took a vial, the same that Taelas had seen before, the scarlet liquid inside being his blood. Xranik let the liquid ooze out onto the crystals, until there was none left.

Once it had been done Xranik turned to the feminine dragoness nearby, her crimson scales glowing in the dim light. "Katrina, if you would please, light the circle." He said and the dragoness nodded, and spat a small bit of fire onto the summoning circle. Once the initial flame hit the markings the fire spread wildly dancing around forming strange symbols on the ground, the curved all around Xranik.

The black dragon watched as the fires completed the symbols, and once everything was alight he began to speak once more. "Now, hear my call convexity. We have granted you that which you need. We ask a simple gift in return. Bring us the gods, light and dark, woven in two. Let them radiate the power across the land, and bring the new world from this one's ashes."

One the last word Xranik violently slammed his paw down crushing the bloody crystals, before backpedaling out of the circle back to his spot.

The dragons watched as the air seemed to contort and twist, as the planar boundaries ripped. There was a crackling, and a hissing sound, which grew steadily until there was an enormous explosion that even knocked the three younger dragons back a few feet. Rubbing his head Taelas stood up and stumbled back to his position. All of the dragons in the clearing were still standing as if nothing had happened, and Taelas assumed that they had placed some sort of magic to keep them stable during the ritual.

Taelas' eyes were immediately drawn back to center though were there was now a massive tear in space was. He hardly thought it possible, but as he watched the dragon noted two massive claws grip the edges of the portal and through it came a full dragon, his scales jet black. The dragon stood three times the size of a normal large adult, a colossus. His wings were grey and his scales, besides being black as night were also razor sharp. Large spikes protruded from his body, looking more like tears or corruption than a natural addition to the dragon's armor. His head had six horns each protruding out from the back of his head and curving around in a different direction. As he stepped through the gate the dragon let out a roar that made Taelas' very bones vibrate. When the noise faded away he looked back at the cultists with a sinister smile.

Taelas stared in awe at the large black dragon, for a moment he thought that the cult had summoned Malefor back from the dead. The black dragon seemed to match the description of the now dead leader, except for a few things.

"Another one is coming." Ivarik said jostling Taelas from his thoughts, and back into the horrifying reality.

Just as Ivarik had said two more claws gripped the edge of the portal, and another dragon leapt through. This one was white from head to claw, except for the patches of dark grey scales that littered his body. Unlike its counterpart this dragon did not look nearly as menacing. Its snout was long and lean. Two large horns jagged out from the back of his head. The dragon was less heavyset than the first and now he calmly approached standing side by side with the black dragon.

"You are the ones who have summoned us?" The black dragon asked his voice split between curiosity and anger.

"That is correct Arum; let me be the first to welcome you to our world." Xranik said with a bow, which left all of the other dragons to follow suit. "And of course the same extension goes out to you Sol."

"How do you know our names?" The white dragon asked.

"We all know of you, you are the gods of convexity are you not?" Xranik asked rhetorically.

"We are, and you do know the purpose of the gods, don't you?" Arum asked a smile breaking slowly on his face.

"We know, and we welcome your leadership, in these trying times." Xranik said, smiling back.

"Then we have much to discuss, isn't that right Sol." Arum said wickedly.

"Yes dear brother, but there is one thing." He said turning to Xranik. "Have you accounted for our sister?"

"We have members patrolling all over the area, when she arrives we will find her." Xranik assured him.

"Good, she is the one who could cause all of this to fail." Sol said nodding.

"Surely, she could not be so powerful as to halt both of you." Xranik chuckled, but his laughter quickly faded as the two stared at him stone-faced. "We will find her then." Xranik said suddenly stern. "And have her dealt with."

"Then come there is much to discuss." The two said simultaneously.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey look at that a quick update for once, hopefully it's still good quality. On a side note I can't remember if I said anything before, I probably did. If anyone has any sort of constructive criticism please let me know as I would like to improve in any way I can. Enjoy.**

Spyro and Cynder walked through the ever busying streets of Warfang. It was almost noon and so all of the citizens were out and about buying, trading, selling, hunting, or any other task they had scheduled for that day. The pair of dragons ignored them as their task was a much grimmer one.

"How do you think that they will react to what happened?" Cynder asked.

"I can't be sure, but seeing as their son lays dead, it's obvious that they won't be pleased."

"But they have to listen to reason, right?" Cynder asked her voice desperate now. "They have to believe that it wasn't Taelas who killed Ridan."

Spyro shrugged having no comforting words for her. He understood the likelihood of this plan succeeding was slim to none, but they still had to try. If nothing else the family at least deserved to know what happened.

The two found their way to the dragon's home. They had been there only a few times before. Taelas had been good friends with Ridan before this whole ordeal had started, and so it was only right that Spyro and Cynder knew his parents. So that they could be sure of who their son was in the company of.

As the two approached the house they found a dragoness their own age step outside. Looking up she saw them both and suddenly smiled.

"Cynder, Spyro, it's nice to see you both." She said giving a meek smile.

"Rali, how are you doing?" Cynder said returning the grin although it felt hollow to her.

"I am fine." The slim ice dragoness answered. "Although, we have yet to see Ridan since last night." The dragoness seemed to become lost as she spoke, her eyes turned down to her talons. "It worries me, but perhaps I am just being overcautious."

There was a long pause, which proved awkward for Spyro and Cynder, as they did not want to inform her of what had really happened, but both knew that they would have too. "Rali." Spyro began drawing the dragoness' attention back to them. "Rali, we have something to tell you, but it would be best if Akrin were here too." Spyro said referring to the silvery dragoness' mate.

"Al-Alright." The dragoness said shakily, the seriousness of the situation weighing in. "Come inside."

With the dragoness' bidding Spyro and Cynder followed her off of the busy sunlit street, and into the large stone house. Spyro and Cynder stopped in the large foyer as Rali called for her mate. The building that they had entered was huge, possibly bigger than their own living quarters. Spyro had heard that the family was wealthy, due to dealings that Akrin had made over his lifetime. From the rumors that he had heard, Akrin had made many deals during Malefor's reign, and several more while the seven dragons of darkness were attacking. Now the same was happening again, with the cult raging dragons were stocking on goods, weapons, armor, and anything else they might need as the city was once again thrust into chaos. Some said he profited from others misfortunes, while others claimed it was just coincidence.

"Spyro, Cynder, how great to see you." Akrin called as he entered the large ornate entrance hall. "Dragons of your prestige are honored guests in this house."

"Thank you Akrin." Spyro said graciously.

"I assume though, that this is not just a casual meeting. Do you have something to tell us?" The earth dragon asked his voice deep, and sturdy.

"We, we do have something to say." The purple dragon said feeling nervous.

"Well?" Rali asked irritation edging its way into her voice.

"This isn't easy to say, but you have to know. Your son Ridan, you believe him to be lost." Cynder said trailing off, not wanting to continue.

"He was killed last night, by a cultist." Spyro said forcing the words from his lips.

"What?" Rali asked unbelieving. "How could this happen?" She said her voice breaking even as she spoke. Akrin came up beside her allowing his mate to lean against him as she began to sob quietly.

"How do you know this, who witnessed it and did not stop it?" Akrin asked anger in his voice as he bent a wing around Rali's body and pulled her closer.

"Our son Taelas and his friend Ivarik. They went to speak with him outside of Warfang. You see Ridan was actually a cultist himself."

"A cultist? How would you know?" Akrin asked confused. "And who are you to accuse my son of this?"

"He attacked our daughter earlier that day, saying that the cult needed her, in order to get to Taelas." Cynder explained. "I am sorry to have to tell you this but it is true, I swear I would never lie about this, nor do I have a reason to."

"If he was a cultist then why would Valas kill him?" Rali asked a few tears still rolling down her features.

Hearing her words each of the dragons stiffened, and silence of that fell over the room which was broken only by Rali's quiet sobbing.

"Valas?" Spyro asked after some time.

"We never mentioned a Valas, and for that matter we did not even know his name. Which begs the question," Cynder said her eyes narrowing. "How do you know him?"

Rali's demeanor suddenly hardened as she looked to Akrin, who nodded. "It is alright my sweet." He said before turning to Spyro and Cynder. "You weren't supposed to find out, but I suppose it makes no difference due to the current turn of events."

"You're both cultists!" Spyro exclaimed stepping in front of Cynder slightly to protect her from any potential danger, which he expected.

"Not that it matters to you." Rali said her tears fading.

"Why would it not matter, we will turn you in." Cynder said. "You can't expect us to not act on this information."

"I think you may have forgotten wear we all stand." Rali said now smiling. Seeing their confused looks the silver dragoness continued. "Your son killed Ridan. Taelas is a criminal, along with his friend, and you are harboring a fugitive."

"What, no he didn't!" Cynder growled.

"Alright, prove it, you just told us that he was the only one there to see our son's death." Akrin said with a smile.

"You would use your own child's demise to blackmail us?" Spyro asked with disgust.

"You won't guilt us, dragon, we are far past that point." Rali sneered.

"Then we can just tell the council who you really are." Spyro reasoned.

"And you think that they will believe you?" Akrin laughed. "We are two respected citizens of Warfang, the upper class. We bear no cultist markings or have any obvious relations to them. No one would believe you. As for us, all we need to do is find Ridan's corpse, his body will give us all of the proof we need, someone must take the blame and your son is the one to take it."

Spyro and Cynder stood in shock, unsure of what to say. Before them stood two cultists that they could do nothing to. They could attack them, but it would do them no good. Killing both of them could not be justified. Spyro gnashed his teeth in frustration looking at the two.

"I suggest you both take you're leave." Rali said a wicked smile flashing across her face. "Perhaps spend some time with Taelas before the guards come to take him away.

Spyro grunted and snorted a burst of fire that nicked the couples paws, before he turned and pulled Cynder alongside him.

The dragons left in silence, and once they had gone a fair distance from the house Cynder burst out. "Spyro what are we going to do, we can't just let them roam free!"

"I know, but they weren't exactly wrong. We can't just attack with no proof, but we cannot do nothing either." Spyro said thinking over the situation.

"Perhaps we should take this to the guardians, and let them keep tabs on the two." Cynder said.

"Yes that at least we can do, but you know that it will not change the charges that have been imposed on Taelas."

"But, Blaze could not possibly trust the word of a cultist. Could he?" The dragoness asked questioning herself.

"That isn't the matter at hand unfortunately. Rali and Akrin were right. Their son's body is out there and Taelas was the only one there to witness it. While their word isn't valid you cannot argue a body, and they have enough power in the city to back up their claim, even if they do it falsely."

"But, there must be a way." Cynder said her voice cracking slightly.

"Right now this is our only option." Spyro said shaking his head solemnly. "We'll figure something out, I promise."

"I hope that you are right." Cynder said leaning her head against the purple dragon's firm body as they walked through the street towards the distinct guardian tower.

Spyro and Cynder arrived back at their house as night was falling. They had spent the better part of their day at the guardian tower. They had spoken to the four dragons, who had shared the same concerns, although, like the two had surmised the guardians could do nothing on pure speculation, at least not without an outburst from the public. The two had also given their plea for Taelas, but the most that the guardians could do would be to imprison him, and not harm him. While Spyro and Cynder were grateful it didn't come close to solving their problems.

By the time the two walked through the doorway to their house, they were ready to retire, to say the least. Upon entering their home they found Aria waiting for them.

"Aria, is something wrong?" Cynder asked, looking at her pouting daughter.

"Taelas left, again." She said spitting the last word with anger.

"What, where?" Spyro asked suddenly at attention.

"Out to find the cultists, apparently there are performing some ritual tonight." Seeing both of her parents astounded looks the dragoness continued to speak. "I tried to stop him, but he didn't care to listen to me, I don't know where they are."

"They?" Cynder asked.

"Yes, Ivarik and Syra went with him." Aria explained.

"Syra? Damn it she was under our protection, he has no right to take her."

"She volunteered, said she wanted to go." Aria replied, silencing the dragon.

"Well we have to get them back!" Cynder said worried.

"No." Spyro said. "They left some time ago I assume?" And Aria nodded confirming his suspicion. "Alright then let them go, we couldn't chase them anyway we don't even know where they went, besides maybe it will keep him safe, from what is going on here."

"What do you mean, how could spying on the cultists keep him safe?" Aria asked confused.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, and shrugged their shoulders. "Perhaps it is best that we tell you what has happened."

"Taelas, come on we need to leave." Ivarik said, nudging the dragon with his paw.

"We don't know what they are planning yet." Taelas said not taking his eyes off of Sol and Arum.

"And you think that they are going to just announce that to the world. There is no way that we will be able to hear their plans from here." Ivarik said before stealing a glance at the enormous dragons. "And we can't exactly go in there."

"Taelas please let's go." Syra said as she tried not to beg. In reality she desperately wanted to go as she could feel her strength draining away.

Taelas turned to the dragoness, and looked back at Sol and Arum before cursing quietly. "Alright, let's go." He said standing up, and helping Syra to a standing position. The dragons took no time in shooting off into the air, flying away as quick as they could, away from the scene.

Back on the forest floor Arum spoke cutting off Xranik. "Before we get into the details of our plan I would like to know what we are up against. Tell me dragon." He said addressing the leader of the cultists. "Are there any large settlements around here?"

"Only Warfang my lord, a thriving metropolis, filled with dragons." Xranik answered.

"Perhaps we shall pay them a visit, what harm could there be in that." Arum laughed, and his brother joined in, knowing his plan.

"Yes, we shall see them for ourselves; it is only fair that they know who brings their demise." Sol hissed. "Remember Xranik you must find our sister, find Lyara." Xranik nodded in response to the dragon's request, and still it made him wonder how much power this dragoness held if both Sol and Arum were worried about her.

"Xranik, when you do find her, do not be alarmed or curious about her appearance. She has not been prone to the same." The dragon paused for a moment as he tried to think of the right word. "Circumstances."

Then before Xranik could do or say anything the two had left in a whirl of wind. As the massive dragons disappeared into the distance, the cult leader had a new thing to contemplate.

Taelas flew on lazily in the night sky leading the way back to Warfang. He could see the walls in the distance but for now the closest and biggest thing around him was still the forested wilds. Just as he was beginning to lose his focus there was a sudden burst of light, and a visible shockwave, that he could feel from a nearby spot in the woods. The light vanished as quickly as it had come leaving a circle of bent and broken trees, moved by shear force.

"Did you see that?" Taelas asked turning to the other two, thinking it possible that he had simply imagined the light.

"Ya, what do you think it was?" Syra asked.

"Ask me again in five minutes." Taelas said as he swerved off of his current path, and down to where the shockwave had come from. Taelas dropped through a cloud of dust landing at harrowing speed, using his control of earth to break the ground beneath him, and not his body.

The dragon quickly looked up noting more than several other dragons standing in the now cleared area. The dragons sneered at him his arrival being far from welcome, but even so they all seemed distracted.

A moment later Taelas realized why as a silver streak bolted out from the clouds of dust, and slammed into a nearby cultist, sending the adult to the ground in an instant. By the time the first dragon had fallen to the ground, the silver shape was already gone. Again it appeared this time closer to Taelas, and he found it to be a dragoness. She swung her tail knocking another cultist down to the ground, bringing up chunks of earth as he smashed into the ground.

Taelas heard a loud roar as the dragoness disappeared again, sending out a shockwave, that sent all of the dragons, Taelas included, stumbling. As Taelas pulled himself back up he noted beams of light and fire, and multiple bursts of energy coming from every direction. Dragons fell down left and right, some even flying away in fear. None escaped unscathed the fallen cultists had gruesome bite and talon wounds, all of them bleeding openly.

After several moments of fighting there was a dead silence. The dust was still clearing, but all of the cultists already lay dead or critically incapacitated on the grass. The combat had taken all but a minute. Taelas stared into the dusty air, his eyes unable to make out anything in the dark. Taelas could hear the sounds of soft footsteps on the grass.

As he tried to get a lock on the sounds there was a growl and the silver dragoness leapt from the dusty cover only inches from the violet drake. The purple dragon could hardly react as he was thrust to the ground. The dragoness slashed once nicking Taelas' crest before the purple dragon rolled to the side putting himself above the dragoness.

"Sto-

The purple dragon was cut off before he could even get the word out. The dragoness had opened her mouth and let out a burst of powerful energy, sending Taelas backwards on a short flight to come crashing down to the ground. Groaning Taelas stood back up a little shakily from the attack. His insides felt like they were on fire, and he almost moved his paws to grip them.

Before he could consider the pain any more the dragoness was on him again, plunging forward, her speed unparalleled. On shear reflex Taelas stamped his paw on the ground sending a pillar of hardened earth up. The dragoness crashed into the sudden wall and fell to the ground dazed. Taelas took his chance and quickly got up next to the dragoness placing the sharp end of his tail just above the dragoness' exposed throat.

Taelas saw more energy gathering in her throat and he yelled. "Stop!" To his surprise the dragoness dispersed the energy as he spoke and instead stared at him with narrowed eyes.

The dragoness looked at him breathing heavily, but saying nothing. Taelas took the moment to examine her, she had been moving so fast before that it had been impossible to get any sort of read on her. Now seeing her still he could take note of her sleek figure. The dragoness seemed as though she had been sculpted, and she was, by Taelas' reasoning, was one of the most beautiful dragonesses he had ever seen. Her trim figure was lined in silver scales, her crest being slim and dark crimson in color. Her horns were black and gnarled like tree roots. On the left horn was a strange white band, that had shapes scrawled into it. Around her neck was a pendant, it was jet black and it formed some symbol that Taelas had never seen.

"Are you done looking me over yet?" The dragoness asked. "Do I meet your expectations?"

"What expectations?" Taelas asked looking at her cerulean eyes.

"You know what I am, do you not?" The dragoness said.

"No, as a matter of fact I don't. You look like a dragon to me" Taelas said removing his tail from her throat. "Don't make any sudden moves or I will kill you."

"What makes you think that you could kill me?" The dragoness asked haughtily as she stood back up.

"Are you color blind, I'm a purple dragon." Taelas said proudly.

The dragoness laughed at him. "And I am a goddess."

"A goddess?" Taelas asked astounded.

"Does this shock you?" She asked.

"It's not every day that gods just fall out of the sky and talk to me, so yes I'm a little shocked." Taelas said sarcastically. The dragoness looked at him curiously as if she only half understood what he had said, so the drake continued. "What is your name?"

"Our kind has no need of such things, we go by the names that you give to us. I however am known by your kind as Lyara."

"I'm Taelas." The violet dragon replied. "And this is Iva-

The purple drake turned to find the Ivarik tending to Syra, who was lying on the ground unmoving.

"What happened?" He asked sprinting over to the two.

"She passed out, probably from overexertion, she said that she could come with us, but obviously Syra was lying." Ivarik explained.

"We need to get her back to Warfang, now." Taelas explained. "I should have known better than to let her come with us."

"Excuse me." Lyara said breaking both the dragon's concentration. "Could you enlighten me as to where we are right now?"

"You don't know? I thought you were a goddess." Taelas said turning to face her again.

"We are not all knowing, that is not how this works." Lyara said quickly.

"Fine, you're in the wilds south of Warfang. The city is maybe ten minutes flight from here." Taelas explained.

"And you wouldn't have happened to see two other dragons around here. They go by the name of Sol and Arum." Lyara explained.

The names made Taelas' veins turn to ice. "Yes, we saw them come here not too long ago, are they friends of yours?"

"Brothers actually." Lyara clarified."

"Your brothers?" Taelas questioned.

"Yes, but more importantly, this Warfang, is it a large city?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then I must go there, no doubt they will be there as well, perhaps I can stop this before it truly begins." Lyara said breaking her eye contact with Taelas and stretching her leathery onyx wings.

"Stop what?" Taelas asked, but the dragoness ignored him.

In frustration Taelas turned from the dragoness, and back to Ivarik who had been listening to the conversation transpire. "Ivarik take Syra back to my home, I will be there as soon as I can."

"What, you don't plan to follow her?" Ivarik asked thinking that the idea was insane.

"I do, please Ivarik, just take her back, I swear I will follow you as soon as I can."

There was a short pause before Ivarik nodded. "Just don't go getting yourself killed, if what this 'Lyara' says is true then let her do the fighting."

Taelas nodded if only to put the dragon's mind at ease, he had no intention to not act in the face of danger. "Thank you for doing this Ivarik, you are more a friend to be now than I ever thought possible, from now on you have my trust."

Ivarik nodded, feeling content to hear the words. "Ancestors watch over you dragon." He said as he pulled Syra onto his back.

"And you keep her safe, my sister too." Taelas said, and Ivarik nodded before lifting off into the air, and heading for the city.

Taelas turned around to face Lyara, who had a peculiar look on her face as if she thought Taelas crazy. "I'm going with you." He said

"Obviously." Lyara said rolling her eyes.

"Before we leave though I have one question. What are those two pieces of jewelry that you wear? They don't exactly look natural." Taelas said eyeing the adornments.

Lyara looked to the pendant around her neck, and the band around her horn. "They are symbols of my power. Perhaps it is not wise to tell you, but you seem to be trustworthy enough. My power is so great that it cannot be contained with this meager mortal frame, therefore it is stored within these artifacts."

"Right, that seems really dangerous, what if someone steals them?" Taelas asked, he only partially believed this dragoness story, in the first place but he had no way of knowing.

"On the contrary there are many precautions and enchantments that that protect these charms, no one else can even use them." Taelas simply stared at her, and she continued. "Shall we?" The dragoness asked and Taelas nodded, leaping into the air and setting out for Warfang, leaving the glade far behind.

The trip was short, so short that the purple dragon could hardly even put together the pieces of the story. Whatever this dragoness was she clearly had some relation to Sol and Arum, but whether that relation was friendly or hostile was yet to be decided. As they neared the city Taelas could see that his question would be answered sooner than he thought possible. Just as Lyara had said there they were, the massive silhouettes of Sol and Arum were just outside of the walls of Warfang, close to the forests as to not be seen so clearly.

"My brothers, what happened to them?" Lyara said thinking aloud as she saw them. Her voice filled with horror and surprise, which didn't bode well with Taelas at all.

The two landed only about fifty feet away from the much larger dragons. They stared at them but Taelas could see that there focus was fully on Lyara. Taelas was much more like a fly on the wall than another opponent.

"Sol, Arum, what are you doing? Why are you here?" Lyara asked.

"You should know sister. We only have one purpose." Arum said. "Destruction of this city is first on our list of duties.

"Your job is to reconstruct, and clarify the living word, not to utterly destroy it." Lyara argued. "Something is wrong here. Something has happened to both of you hasn't it?" She said stepping closer to the two.

"Come now Lyara, we are your brothers, we know what is best." Sol said slinking forward until he was mere inches from the dragoness who did not back down in the slightest.

"You stink of corruption Sol, I can smell it on both of you. If you truly are afflicted by a taint then you are in no state to make such decisions. In any case I am your voice of reason. Now I ask you kindly, leave this world go back from whence you came." Lyara said her voice filled with venom.

"Ah sister, we are past reason, and we are past you, there is no need of you here." Arum said stepping forward as well. "But perhaps you cannot be persuaded, you always did stick to your resolve." Arum said his voice escalating as he swiped a paw forward, slamming the ground where Lyara was.

However he found nothing to crush as Lyara had already moved away and was now to the dragon's side. Without wasting a second she loosed a burst of her energy which slammed against Arum's face sending him reeling. As the dark dragon fell away Sol moved forward, dodging past one of the dragoness' shockwaves he swept his first paw across and then his second. As expected Lyara dodged the first strike but was hit by the second sending her rolling across the ground in a daze.

Arum, already recovered, took his chance and snatched the smaller dragoness up in his paw, crushing her in his grip. Lyara kept herself from screaming as she felt her body being constricted. Concentrating the dragoness' body suddenly turned pure white, and her eyes black. Wisps of energy licked her scales as she stared at Arum, who felt chills run down his spine. The dragoness roared with supremacy as bursts of arching energy exploded from her body, cutting into both of the larger dragons, and causing them to roar in anger and pain.

When the light faded Lyara fell to the ground exhausted as she stood up very slowly, Taelas coming to help her up. "That was incredible!" He exclaimed having never such fighting prowess or technique.

"Hopefully it was enough to end them." Lyara said as she looked at her brothers' bleeding bodies. Even as she said the words though her siblings began to rise, within moments both stood once more although they looked injured.

"Perhaps you have grown weak with time Lyara; you do not appear to have the strength you once did." Arum said snidely. "Maybe we overestimated you." The black dragon suddenly leapt forward soon after swatting Taelas out of the way before grabbing the dragoness again and lifting her up. "This time no more mistakes." He said squeezing the life out of her. Taelas was about to jump into the battle when he noted a small flash of light that came from Lyara. The pendant and band on the dragoness' body glowed, and suddenly disappeared, leaving her feeling sapped of strength even more so than so already was.

As the dragoness' lungs began to fail her Arum felt a stinging pain in the side of his face. He screamed in pain as several spears of ice embedded themselves into his scales.

"Let her go." Taelas said, prepping his elemental powers again.

Arum looked at the purple dragon with disgust, and dropped the dragoness who hit the ground with a dull thump before beginning to stumble to get back up.

"Lyara, leave now, fly into the city, they won't follow you there!" Taelas yelled. He didn't know what was going on exactly but if there was someone he thought could kill Sol and Arum it was her.

"But…" The dragoness stuttered.

Taelas fired another few spikes of ice at Arum, but the attacks simply bounced off of his scales, useless. "Go! These aren't the same two you knew before; if you don't leave they are going to k-

The drake's last words were cut off as a massive paw came down crushing him against the ground. Sol lifted his paw a moment later and grabbed the dragon in his talons, and lifted him up so that he could see Taelas clearly.

"Such a noble soul, trying to warn her, but I think that you will find your efforts to be in vain." Sol snickered. "You will find only your own demise while you are here." Sol said as he suddenly plunged Taelas down into the ground. The dragon then swung his paw back slamming Taelas against a nearby tree, knocking clearly through it. Lyara watched in horror as Sol thrust his paw back releasing the dragon, who flew through the air over the walls of Warfang and into the city. Having no other options the dragoness launched off of the ground, before either of the dragons could stop her. She heard Arum's roar of anger behind her but didn't turn back, she couldn't not after what had just happened to Taelas.

"No brother, let her go, we cannot go into Warfang now, not after the damage she inflicted." Sol reasoned. "Soon enough, we will go."

The black dragon looked at his brother with ferocity, but after a long pause he changed his appearance. "So be it." Arum spat.

Taelas was only half conscious as he flew through the air. The dragon was mostly still in shock from the beating he had just endured, as pain coursed through his body Taelas felt himself smash against solid stone.

The purple dragon crashed through a large statue, in the city square, causing it to crumble before slamming into the ground, and rolling to a stop. As he lay broken on the ground he vaguely noted Lyara come to stand over him. She seemed to be sad or in tears, Taelas couldn't tell as his vision blurred, she shook her head again and again, trying to move his body, but to no avail. Finally, the dragon's vision faded into utter blackness and he felt his pain sweep away.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I bet whoever is reading this probably thought that this chapter would never come. To make a long story short I lost interest in writing this, but recently I was talking to my friend about fanfiction in general and it made me want to finish this. I have now decided that I will finish this story, because I would feel terrible stopping halfway through. Anyway sorry that this took so long for me to do.**

Ivarik sat up as quickly as he heard a sudden crash as he lay in Spyro's house. Aria looked at him, curiously searching for an answer in his eyes. Ivarik had none though as he shrugged his shoulders, before getting up to find Spyro, with everything that had happened so far he would not simply dismiss the noise as nothing.

The two rushed downstairs to find Spyro talking to Cynder, his tone very forcefully. This alone put Aria on edge; her father was timid and rarely got angry; she had only seen him upset one other time in her life.

"I will not let you go out there alone Spyro, our son is already lost, and I will not lose you too." Cynder pleaded.

"You're not coming with me Cynder, for the exact reason you just said. I am going to find out what the crash was, our son is gone and I intend to find him."

"Then let me come with you!" The black dragoness argued.

"No, you will stay here and watch Aria, I'm not putting anyone else in danger." Spyro said as he turned away from his mate ending the discussion.

"Spyro I am coming with you. I want to find out what happened as badly as you do." Ivarik said walking up to the large purple dragon's side.

"Ivarik, I can't in good conscious, let you follow me."

"Save it." Ivarik said interrupting the dragon. "I don't mean to be rude but you aren't my parent and the only way you will get me to stay here is if you incapacitate me, but I don't think you want to do that."

Spyro stared at the dragon for a short moment. The young one's bravery astounded him, most would be at least nervous, Ivarik seemed sound though as he returned the purple dragon's stare. "I can't really stop you then." Spyro said nodding. "Just promise me that you won't do anything to get yourself hurt, if there is danger let me handle it."

Ivarik had no intention of doing such a thing but to put the dragon's thoughts to rest he simply nodded.

"Wait for me I'll come to-

Aria's last word was pulled from her throat as her mother picked her up the nape of her neck. "If I cannot go then you are definitely not leaving this house. One missing child is more than enough." Cynder said through her teeth.

"What about Ivarik he gets to go out when he wants to." Aria argued as her mother dropped her to the floor.

"Ivarik is older and can take care of himself, and you may have forgotten, but he is not our child." Cynder explained, to the pouting dragoness. "Just be careful." She said to Spyro as he walked out the door.

"When am I not?" He asked with a childish grin on his face, a gesture that made Cynder feel at relative ease.

Spyro and Ivarik took to the air the second they left the house. They didn't have to fly far to find the source of the noise, it seemed the whole city had come out to see it, as they could see dragons moving in one singular direction. Finally, they came to one of the many main squares in the city. In the center was a shattered statue and two dragons, one with brilliant silver scales and the other with dark violet features.

Ivarik was the first to react, speeding down towards the two, Spyro hung back for a moment, his eyes not catching onto the purple figure at first, and instead he saw the carnage in the square. Once the statue had broken the pieces had been flung with horrific speed, crashing into nearby buildings and tearing through walls. It almost looked as though small bombs had been dropped in the area.

"By the ancestors! What happened here?" Ivarik half yelled as he landed next to Taelas' limp body and Lyara who was sitting over him.

"I tried to tell him I did, but he didn't listen." Lyara cried shaking her head, seeming hardly aware the Ivarik was even there at all.

"I could have told you that." Ivarik said moving to pick the dragon up. As he neared the fallen purple dragon though Lyara stood up, and faced him her teeth were bared, but there were tears in her eyes. Ivarik gave her a quizzical look.

"What are you doing?" The dragoness hissed.

"I should ask you the same thing." The lightning dragon said still confused.

"I won't let anyone else hurt him!" She said forcefully.

"Hurt him? I was traveling with him, we met, remember?" The dragon explained looking at her dumbfounded.

"I have never seen you in my life." The dragoness spat.

Ivarik stared at her as if she were crazy. "Right, I am going to take my friend now, and go." Ivarik said speaking the words slowly, as if he was talking to a child. "You can go off by yourself, and make claims about being a goddess or whatever it is that you do in your free time." He said waving his paw at her as if to show her away, as he would do with a fly.

"How did you know that?" The silver dragoness asked suddenly freezing at the words.

"You told us. Oh right sorry, you 'forgot'." He said sarcasm dripping from his words.

The dragoness greeted him with silence obviously trying to sort things out as a puzzled look came over her features. "I'm going to go now." Ivarik said moving towards Taelas again and grabbing one of his paws. It felt cold, and a spike of fear went through the dragon.

He could hardly analyze the problem though, as he was suddenly thrust to the ground, Lyara standing over him.

"What the hell did you do that for?" He asked, as the dragoness herself looked bewildered by her own actions. Lifting a paw, black claws shining in the moonlight, Lyara prepared to strike, and Ivarik moved to block the coming attack. As she moved though her paw fell slowly, and then, to Ivarik's surprise, so did she. The dragoness fell to the ground next to him, unconscious.

Ivarik stood up hastily, and looked at her body. More and more questions began to come into his mind, but he threw them aside as Spyro landed behind him, and he turned to face the adult purple dragon.

"Who is that?" Spyro asked staring at Lyara.

"It's a long story." Ivarik said still sounding puzzled himself.

"Then tell me when we get back to our house, Taelas is looking far from well." Spyro said as he moved to pick up his son, and gently placed him on his back.

"It will be fine, he'll make, I'm sure." Ivarik said as he grabbed Lyara. He was confused by the dragoness, but he didn't feel right leaving her in the street to fend for herself, she seemed to be already confused enough as it was, although if she tried to attack him again, he might not be so hospitable.

Spyro looked back at Ivarik grim faced. "I wish I shared in your optimism young one, but I have lived long enough to see others come and go. Not everyone lives. For my own sake though I desperately hope that you are right."

"They made a process, a plan. It only had a few steps, but they were large steps. Things that would seem impossible and idiotic to any sane dragon, but what did it matter to them, they had already lost their minds. The first step was to find a way to this world."

Taelas' eyes opened abruptly revealing harsh light. With a grunt he struggled to keep his lids open, and let his pupils adjust. "Who's there?" He asked blindly hoping for an answer, he had heard someone just a moment ago. After several moments he blinked away the water that had been gathering on the rims of his eyes. How long had he been asleep?

With a groan of pain he tried to get up, moving himself into a sitting position. His muscles felt tight, stiff, and as he tried to stretch them out he looked around. The dragon suddenly went into shock seeing that he was in what appeared to be the remains of his house. There were fires around him and broken furnishings scattered about like clutter on the ground, as he looked around though he saw no one who could have spoken.

"What the hell happened?" He asked in awe. Not seeing anyone around, the dragon forced himself to stand, causing a wave of wooziness to course through him. He almost fell back over, but with a quick shake of his head he began to steady himself. Finding himself in need of a better vantage point the dragon flapped his wings, experimentally at first. As he miraculously felt no pain the dragon grew more confident and pushed off of the ground, making a short flight up to the top of a crumbling stone wall.

Looking out the dragon's jaw dropped, in horror. He saw Warfang in disarray. Many of the buildings lay smashed, and destroyed. From his view point he could not see the entire city but, it seemed as though the damage that was here probably continued throughout all of the streets. Taelas could see bodies in almost every direction; the more he tried to ignore them the more obvious they were though.

A sudden scream jolted him out of his astonishment, as he jumped in surprise, a rare thing for him. Isolating the scream amongst the other noises that he could hear all over the city, Taelas leapt off of the wall heading for the voice, and hopefully towards some answers.

Only across the street Taelas located the dragoness in distress. To his surprise, and distress it was his sister. Aria stood on a stone path that Taelas had walked so many times before. Confronting her were two creatures that Taelas had never seen before. They looked kind of like the apes that his father used to tell him about, hunched over humanoids, which dragged their arms, their hands just barely touching the ground. They sported large claws and fangs that looked more painful than a dragon's. Unlike the apes though they did not have fur, or even much of a face, besides their mouth of course. Their skin appeared as a grayish-purple plasma, that shifted around like water.

One of the creatures pursuing Aria opened its mouth, and screeched menacingly, the sound felt deafening to Taelas and he could only imagine how loud it was to his sister. The creature jumped immediately following the sound. It tackled Aria thrusting her to the ground. Taelas eyes widened as it tried to snap, which would have surely killed her had she not moved out of the way.

With a swift kick of her hind legs the dragoness sent the beast flying behind her to smash against a nearby house. Taking advantage of the situation Aria hissed defiantly, and spat two spikes of ice, which impaled the creature against the wall, by its arms. The creature screeched again, this time the noise not even seeming to phase the dragoness, she fired a third spike of ice, this one going straight through the creature's gapping maw quieting him permanently.

Taelas was more amazed than anything at his sister's sudden fighting prowess began to swoop down. He quickly noted the other creature, which had been quietly creeping closer to the dragoness. While she had not taken notice, Taelas had, and he landed hard on the thing, stunning it, before baking its head in flames.

When the creature lay dead Taelas stepped off of the body, more than a little tired from the exertion, he had just woken up after all. He looked up at Aria lazily, but she was simply staring at him, as if unbelieving.

"They said you wouldn't make it." Aria cried. "They said you were lost, gone, dead."

"What do you mean?" Taelas asked, between two breaths.

"Taelas, I…I…don- She stuttered as she sprinted over to her brother. The purple drake wrapped her in his wings.

"What happened to you, how did you survive?" Aria asked quickly running her words together as she spoke. "I thought that I would never see you again."

"I woke up in our house, it's completely destroyed." Taelas answered, surprisingly he only just now felt sadness. That place had been his home since he was born and now it was a pile of smoldering rubble. "Aria, listen to me, what is going on here? How long have I been knocked out?"

"Taelas." She said shaking her head, tears in her eyes. "You have been knocked out nearly three months. They said you were in something called a coma."

"What!" The dragon screamed, making his sister jump. "Three months?" He yelled just as loudly.

"Yes, the doctors said that you should be dead from what happened to you after your incident. But because you were a purple dragon you simply went into a comatose state instead. We weren't sure if you would ever wake up." She said hugging her brother again, squeezing him tightly. "I thought I would be alone." She whimpered putting her head against his chest.

Taelas suddenly seemed to stop breathing. "Alone?" He asked, the statement striking him as odd. The horror began to set in as he looked to Aria for an answer that he wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"Taelas…" Aria said trailing off not wanting to bring up the subject.

"Aria, what do you mean alone?" Taelas repeated.

"Taelas. Mother and father…" She said cutting off again tears welling in her bright forest green eyes.

"What? Aria what happened to them?" He asked frustration setting in along with sorrow.

"Mom and dad are…dead." Aria said tears rolling down her cheeks. Taelas' fell to the ground as the words hit him, their impact greater than any physical wound. As he lay on the ground he didn't speak he just looked stunned, he could feel a burning in his throat and water in his eyes but he ignored it.

"How, how did this happen?" He asked. When no answer came he looked to his sister who was on the ground as well, and still sobbing. "Aria, listen to me!" The dragon yelled getting her attention, his desperation causing his temper to flare. "I know, how you are feeling but please," He said his voice returning to normal. "Please tell me what happened."

"After you went into a coma, Sol and Arum began to attack places all over the world. Everyone knew of them, and as they destroyed towns and cities, their numbers grew. They began to open portals all across the world, letting in those…creatures." Aria said looking to the one she had speared to the wall.

"The second step was not so tough, and for two that had gone insane it was a surprisingly smart move. Open portals and summon those who were on the other side of the void."

Taelas heard the voice and immediately stood up, spinning around trying to find whoever had spoken.

"Taelas what's wrong?" Aria sniffled looking at him and the surrounding area.

"Did you hear that?" He asked staring back down at his sister.

"No, I didn't hear anything, what was it?" She asked a little worried, as she began to compose herself once more.

Taelas paused for a moment. "Probably nothing, I'm still tired, that's probably it." He bluffed trying to make something up to put his own mind at ease.

Sitting back down he continued. "So Spyro and Cynder are…" He trailed off unable to finish the question. Aria simply nodded not wanting to confirm it with words.

"How did they…die?" He said his voice breaking on the last word.

"I'm sorry Taelas, I cannot, repeat it, I just can't." She said shaking her head.

"Alright, it's fine, maybe I'll ask you later. Tell me then, what is going on inside of Warfang, are Sol and Arum here?"

"Yes, they are. Taelas there is something you should know." Aria said her voice suddenly ominous. Taelas raised a brow asking for her to answer.

"Warfang. Warfang is the last city on this planet. Sol and Arum, they have destroyed and killed nearly all of our kind." Aria said. "We are endangered."

"What but how? Why?" Taelas asked astounded.

"Everyone who has seen them, and lived says that, it is there plan. Lyara said that they want to destroy everything, to rebuild, from the beginning. Us, this city, the remaining few here, we are all that is left." She said her words hitting Taelas heavily.

"Even the most deranged person can sense danger to some sort of degree. Kill or be killed, a fairly simply rule to follow, and one that was not difficult either. The third step was to end the life that was living here, and kill any who sought to thwart their rule."

This time when Taelas heard the voice he simply didn't react, although it scared him enough to make him twitch. He was beginning to realize that there was no one talking to him. No dragon was next to him whispering words into his ears. No, it was in his thoughts, the whispers were coming from inside his head.

"Are you alright?" His sister asked again.

"Yes, fine, where are the others, Ivarik, Syra, are any of them left?" Taelas asked dreading the answer.

"Yes, they were both still alive the last time that I saw them." Aria clarified. "In fact Ivarik should still be nearby."

"Alright, we need to move, before more of those things come." Taelas said standing up and gently pulled his sister up as well.

"Taelas, you are here, aren't you?" Aria asked looking up at her brother.

"Of cours-

The dragon was cut off as there was a large explosion nearby. A yellow drake, who Taelas knew to be Ivarik. The golden dragon came out of the smoke, backpedaling through the air before shooting a blast of lightning back into the smoldering air. There were a few resounding screams, but the dragon drowned them out with more crackling lightning, until no further noises came.

"Aria, I told you to stay- The words fell from the dragon's mouth as he saw who was before him. "Taelas, you're alive?"

"Everyone is really surprised by that." The purple dragon said, and Aria flicked her paw tapping him on the shoulder.

"You have been in a coma for three months." Ivarik said.

"I know, I had Aria fill me in, on everything." Taelas said nodding to his sister.

"I imagine this isn't what you were expecting to wake up to." Ivarik said.

"It doesn't matter, what's happened has happened, now we need to find Syra, then we can go from there, where is she?" Taelas asked. He didn't want Ivarik to mention his parents, he had heard it once and that was more than he ever wanted to hear.

"She ran off to find her parents; she was heading for her home." Ivarik explained.

"Alright, let's go, no one should be alone out here." Taelas said. The others nodded as they lifted off into the air. As Taelas flew he noted the destruction once more, he was right in his previous assumption it seemed to span the entire city. The sky was black with smoke from the fires, and the screams, and calls of desperate dragons could be heard all over the city.

Only a block from Syra's house Taelas noted a mother and her child running from some of the creatures. The mother was injured preventing her from flying, and the child was too small to lift himself from the ground, and he could hardly keep up with his parent.

Taelas began to make a downward turn, meaning to land and help.

"Taelas stop!" Ivarik said sternly, halting the dragon.

"What why?" Taelas asked.

"We can't stop to save everyone, there are too many." Ivarik said and shook his head looking away from Taelas as he spoke. "We have to take care of our own, and no one else."

"You want me to turn my back on them?" Taelas asked.

"You don't understand." Ivarik argued.

"What I don't understand is you! I'm helping them you can do whatever you want." Taelas said spinning about and launching towards the fleeing family.

"Why didn't you tell him?" Ivarik growled looking at Aria.

The blue dragoness watched her brother land, and begin to unleash elements on the beasts making them temporarily scatter.

"I had to explain to him about the situation of the world, and the fact that our parents are dead! I'll not be the one to tell him this." The dragoness hissed.

"Let's just get down there." Ivarik said, as he veered downward. "I'm not leaving him to die."

Taelas looked at the four creatures, which were jumping back and forth, menacingly, as they tried to decide when, and where to attack. The first creature to attack leapt forward, and Taelas rolled to the side bringing his tail down, stabbing the creature through its skull as it landed where he had just been. The second creature tackled the dragon, but Taelas quickly took the advantage, as they brawled on the ground the dragon reared his neck back and bit through the creature's semi-solid neck. Letting the body fall to the ground, Taelas got back up to find the third beast running away, having seen its friends die it felt that it had no chance. Taelas didn't give it the opportunity. Slamming his paw into the stone path, a massive stone spike jutted out of the ground impaling the last creature, the dragon turned away leaving it to writhe for a few moments on the earth before at least dying.

Ivarik and Aria landed next to the dragon, who was suddenly feeling weak once again, he had to remember that he was far from his full strength.

"Are you alright?" Aria asked concerned.

"Fine, just tired." Taelas answered.

"You shouldn't overdo it." She responded.

"Uh, perhaps we should go." Ivarik said stepping in.

"I want to make sure that, those two are okay." Taelas argued.

"I don't know if that is the best idea." Ivarik said obviously trying to stop the dragon.

Ignoring him, Taelas turned around to face the adult dragoness. "Hi are you o-

Taelas was cut off mid-sentence as the dragoness lashed out whipping her bladed tail in front of her, and slapping the purple dragon's face with the dull end of the blade, although it was still enough to make him bleed slightly.

"By the ancestors, what is wrong with you?" Taelas yelled in confusion as he looked back at the adult, and felt the wound on his face.

"You should be happy that I didn't kill you." The dragoness said.

"What do you mean?" Taelas asked.

"Don't play dumb with me dragon you know what you let happen." The dragoness spat. "All of this, this is your fault! The purple dragon is supposed to protect us from any threat, you were to be our safeguard, and instead you were the one to let our race fall." The dragoness turned, and sprinted away with her child before Taelas could even respond to the harsh criticisms.

"What did she mean?" Taelas asked his voice sounding broken. "What did I do?"

"The dragons of the world believe that you allowed all of this to happen. A purple dragon by prophecy is supposed to deliver our race from any threat, but now…" Ivarik trailed off not wanting to finish his statement.

"I am the reason for all of this?" Taelas asked his voice that of a child again.

"We do not blame you Taelas. The populace is blinded by prophecy, they do not know anything." Aria said trying to comfort him.

"But are they right?" Taelas asked. Both of the dragons could only shrug. Aria shook her head from side to side, but the gesture was a weak one.

"Your father was a hero. He ended Malefor's reign. You, the next purple dragon of descent, a hero who disappeared in their time of need, a betrayer to your people." The voice rattled off through Taelas' mind.

"Let's, let's just go." Taelas mumbled obviously distraught.

Aria moved to comfort him, but she was too late as he jumped back into the air and she and Ivarik were simply forced to follow him. Taelas led them directly to Syra's home. The purple dragon did happen to see one other group of dragons, but he ignored them, fearing the same situation that had occurred before.

Touching down only a minute later Taelas arrived at Syra's home to hear a racket. Throwing caution to the wind the dragon moved into the shattered house at a quickened pace. Just through the doorway the scene was splayed out before Taelas' eyes. Syra plunged her tail blade into one of the ghastly creature's mouths killing it. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she pulled the blade out.

"Syra." Taelas said slowly, trying not to alarm the dragoness in her fragile state. Before the purple dragon could make another move the red dragoness had spun around, her tail blade inches from his snout. Breathing heavily Taelas looked from the pointed metal and back to Syra. "Syra, it's me, Tae-

"Don't talk to me! I should kill you right now!"

"What? What are you talking about, it's me." Taelas answered confused. "Syra, what happened to your face, that cut…" The dragon trailed off.

"This isn't about me, and I'm done talking, you're just a damned imposter anyway. The real Taelas is dead!" The crimson dragoness said before plunging her tail forward.

Taelas dodged out of the way, the dragoness' tail clipping the side of his mouth, making him taste blood. Aria stepped in having only just caught up to the dragon. Walking through the door she took in the scene in an instant. "Syra what are you doing?" She screamed as the dragoness lunged at her brother once more.

Taelas dodged out of the way, but Syra continued her assault. Being fed up with evasion Taelas locked his hind legs, and grabbed Syra's forepaws. "Stop!" He yelled only getting the first word out before Syra head-butted him making him fall over sputtering.

As Syra moved in for a kill Aria reacted faster. With a burst of speed the dragoness charged forward ramming the Syra and sending her against the far wall. Before she could recover the dragoness harnessed her icy element freezing the crimson dragoness to the wall.

Taelas slowly got back up as he watched Syra struggle against her frosty prison.

"What is wrong with you?" Taelas yelled at the struggling dragoness.

"I know what you are." Syra spat, it's a dishonor to all of us for you to mimic him.

Taelas was about to argue when he felt a paw on his shoulder. Ivarik stepped up next to Taelas. "I know what's wrong with her. She thinks you are a mimic, she might even think all of us are."

"Mimic?"

"You have seen the creatures that are attacking the city. Some can take the form of anything that they see." Ivarik explained.

"Syra." Taelas said turning back to the still entrapped dragoness. "It's me, really me. I know I've been gone for a while, but I just woke up. Please you have to believe me."

"Aria." The dragoness said ignoring Taelas completely. "Is it true?"

The blue dragoness paused for more than a few seconds. "Yes." She said finally. "It is true. I don't know how, but he must have woken up."

Syra nodded in response. "I'll take your word for now." The dragoness paused and there was a blinding burst of fire and light. When the dragons could see again Syra was on the floor the ice melted. She looked at Taelas, her brow furled. "If you make one false move however, you'll be dead before you can even comprehend what happened."

"Noted." Taelas said nodding innocently.

"Syra, why did you come here?" Ivarik said interrupting the two. "We have to get to the guardian tower."

"My parents. I wanted to make sure that they were alright, that they got out or something." The dragoness answered.

"And?" Taelas asked worry in his voice. He had known Aegis and Azshea since he was a child.

Syra didn't respond, her mouth feeling dry. She vaguely nodded to the ground, and the hall that led back into the house. "I was attacked when I entered." The dragoness said her voice breaking.

Taelas peered at the floor in the direction she had indicated. He could clearly see a blood trail that led back into the house. "The monsters…when I first saw them, they were already covered in blood." The dragoness explained staring at the ground as her eyes growing moist.

"Syra, it's okay." Aria said walking over to her friend, and pulling her close. "Would you like us to go check the-

"No, I will go, please come with me. Please." She said with a sniffle. Aria stared her friend in the eye and nodded solemnly.

Together the group made their way back into the house, following the trail of blood across the floor. The red stain eventually turned off into a side room. Syra suddenly stopped before the entrance. She had said she would go in, but now she could not bear to find out what she already knew to be true.

Seeing her hesitance, Taelas stepped past them. "I'll take a look." He said nodding to Syra who didn't visual respond, and so Taelas continued. The purple dragon purposely turned his head downward as he entered the room so that he could take a second to brace himself. As he slowly turned his eyes upward the dragon grimaced, and cursed softly as he looked upon Syra's parents. Their bodies lay mangled in the corner, they were clearly dead, and Taelas felt no need to further prolong his visit there. The dragon turned around, and proceeded out of the room. Turning back to Syra Taelas shook his head sadly.

The red dragoness fought to hold back her tears, as the truth was now completely clear. The dragoness's head fell into Aria, as she silently wept. There was silence for a while, no one wanting to disturb the dragoness' mourning. Silently Taelas was saying his own prayers for the dead. Thankfully for both Taelas and Ivarik, Aria was the one to speak up.

"Syra." She said gently bringing the dragoness from her mourning. "Syra, we have to go. Do you think that you will be okay for now?"

The dragoness sniffled. "I can move." Slowly bringing her head back up, she continued. "I…I don't think that I want to stay here any longer, not anymore."

Aria nodded, before turning to Taelas. "Would you lead, we need to get to the guardian tower." The dragoness explained.

Taelas nodded firmly and without a word walked past the two. If they had looked at him closer they might have noticed that the purple dragon's own eyes were growing misty. The death of his own family had already hit him hard. He had held back much of his emotion, so that he could focus on the carnage around him, but this was growing to be too much. Since he had woken up it had been a long road of pain and grief.

"Put your, thoughts behind you and come to the tower." The voice whispered in his mind again. Taelas opened his mouth to scream, but caught himself at the last second.

"Taelas are you alright?" Ivarik asked, noting the purple dragon as his jaw dropped randomly and his facial muscles being clenched.

"I'm fine." The dragon said as he moved on. Perhaps inadvertently Taelas had been given an answer. 'Come to the tower.' Whoever was speaking to him was there, and he was going to find out who.

The group of four made their way back out onto the street. After a quick scan of the area, Taelas could see the guardian tower off in the distance, stretching out above the other smaller buildings of Warfang. It was burning in several places and it was apparent that the siege that had befallen the city had left its mark on the tower as well.

"Come on lets go." Taelas said as he lifted off into the sky, the others following in close pursuit. Taelas, knowing the city like the back of his paw, quickly guided them to one of the fewer main streets in town. It was wide enough that it could probably fight ten adult dragons side by side. More importantly than its size was the fact that it led straight to the tower, this saved them the trouble of having to navigate through the cramped winding backstreets.

Flying above the street Taelas could see that many others had tried to make the journey or were still trying to. Most all of them had been cut down by the savage beasts. Not seeing many other options however Taelas didn't change course, and continued flying down the street, hoping that he could avoid the fights on the ground.

Just as he thought he was safe however the dragon was suddenly tackled in midflight. Taelas spun out of control as the creature grabbed at his back scratching him with sharp talons. Thinking on the fly the dragon jerked his body so that he came crashing down backward smashing whatever had grappled onto him. Slightly dazed the dragon stood up and turned around to see his assailant.

The creature's frame appeared to be a much larger version of an ordinary bird, what made it odd were its features. It had a scaly lizard like skin and leathery wings. This one was a sunburst color. but a quick glance to the sky, where more of the creatures were, told Taelas that they came in all shades. This one was slowly recovering from the hit it had taken flailing on the ground before Taelas spat a piercing spike of ice into its chest, killing it.

"We call them ghasts." Ivarik said landing quickly next to Taelas. "Are you all right?"

"No, not at all!" Taelas yelled, the sudden outburst being enough to make even Ivarik flinch. "By the ancestors look at what's happened! Three months ago this was a thriving city." Taelas screamed pointing to a fallen dragon nearby Taelas continued. "It had dragons living their lives naturally! Everything was peaceful, how could it all have changed like this!"

Ivarik shrugged having no answer to the raging dragon, Aria and Syra only watched the purple dragon looking forlorn.

Again there was a similar intrusion into the dragon's mind by the same voice. "The world needs heroes, Taelas. Prophecy dictates that the purple-

"Shut up! I don't know who you are, but you've got the wrong dragon." Taelas screamed in his mind blotting out the voice. "My father was the one who had a prophecy, I'm no hero."

With silence returning to his mind the dragon addressed the others. "Come on let's just go, we can't fly we'll have to run the rest of the way." Taelas muttered as he turned from the three and continued towards the tower.

The group traveled silently, but did not make it very far. As they worked their way up the road the creatures that had been attacking the downed dragons turned their attention, specifically towards Taelas. "Stay close, and make for the tower." The purple dragon said as he charged forward to meet the first attacker.

The ape like creature swung its arms in an arc. The violet drake judged the speed of the limbs as they closed in from the sides and with quick, but careful calculation Taelas rolled to the side then doubled back leaping through the air and crunching his teeth down on one of the beast's arms. Pulling the arm forward jerked the beast down to its knees, its body collapsing as if there were no bones to hold it up. When its head was on the ground Taelas spat a spike of ice, piercing what he assumed to be the creature's head, and snapping it down to the ground.

Ignoring the now twitching and dying creature Taelas and the others sprinted past. As they ran forward they collided with more and more of the creatures. The dragons split various times fending off the ever increasing amount of monsters that were swarming the streets. As the dragons fought the horde the ghastly bodies started to stack up on the sides of the street, lying next to the bodies of now dead dragons. Each of the young ones took note of their dead kin, the slaughter fully apparent to them all. Under less pressing circumstances they would have dropped all else and given some sort of respect to them, but at the moment their compassion was overridden by their anger, and their fight for survival.

The fighting continued the group gaining ground inch by inch as they edged their way closer to the guardian tower. However their fatigue was growing with every swipe, breath, roll, and leap. Aria pierced down with her bladed tail severing a beast's head from its neck. With the cut the beast seemed to liquefy its shifting blackish skin slowly dissolving into a gel like substance.

Aria flicked her tail ridding it of the thick liquid. Turning around she noted Taelas who had just finished slaying his own opponent. Breathing noticeable he turned to her and gave her a small nod. She returned the gesture, at the very least she still had her brother, and that alone made her feel as though she would always be safe. There was a nagging feeling that she had though. That Taelas was not alright, how could he be after waking up to so much destruction and chaos. His physical health worried her too; he seemed to be tired already. Perhaps it was just a side effect from his coma or maybe it was something else.

Her attention was drawn from the purple dragon as she heard a loud gurgling, and swishing sound. The sound was akin to rushing water. Turning her head to face the path before them she noted the creatures before them, all of them vibrating their watery bodies waving like the ocean during a thunderous storm. At first it was small but over a few short seconds the frequency of the waves increased distorting the figures more than they already were. Eventually the single bodies of the beings were so distorted that they appeared as one large blob.

"What in the world are they doing?" Taelas asked as he walked over to Aria his eyes fixated on the abomination all the while.

"I've heard of this happening before." Aria said drawing her brother's attention back to her. He hadn't been expecting an answer; he easily forgot how much she had changed while he had been comatose.

"What is it?" He asked curious.

"They are forming into one giant being, a destructive force. They do it when they want to level a structure, or kill a tough enemy." Aria explained her voice quivering slightly as realization set in.

"The guardian tower." Taelas surmised.

"Or us." Aria said looking back to all of the dead bodies of the creatures behind them. "We can't let it destroy us or the tower Taelas, it's the last stronghold for every dragon in this city. If it is destroyed…" The dragoness trailed off, her worries keeping her from saying anything further.

"It's okay Aria." Taelas said as he watched the massive blob of darkness begin to morph into a colossal version of the smaller monsters that they had been fighting. As it expanded it slowly knocked over buildings on the side of the street, shooting dust and debris into the air. "We'll kill it before it can destroy anything or anyone."

"Taelas no one has killed one of these things before." Aria pleaded. "We need to run, fly past it and-

The dragoness chocked on her next words as Taelas tackled her across the ground landing several feet away. There was a sudden crash as a massive black fist smashed into the stone path where they had been moments ago. Aria had been so busy trying to discourage Taelas that she hadn't noticed the creature's full transformation and attack. This, she thought, was the exact reason why she was happy to have Taelas as her brother and have him back.

"How can we destroy it if we don't fight it?" Taelas asked, not really looking for an answer, for he already knew it.

The purple drake rolled away from her downed sister, and got to his paws, launching himself into the air, to face this behemoth at eye level. Hovering about fifty feet in the air Taelas stared at the creature which hardly seemed to acknowledge him. He could only be half sure about this though as there were no eyes or facial features, except for a mouth for him to go off of. Ivarik was the first to come up next to him, closely followed by Syra.

"You can't really believe that you can take this thing down, do you Taelas?" Ivarik asked looking from the creature to him, and back again.

"Does it have any weak spots that we know of?" Taelas asked ignoring the comment.

"I'll take that as a yes you do think you can kill it." Ivarik said rolling his eyes.

"We don't know any weak spots, that's why no one has killed one." Syra said emphasizing the last part of the statement.

"Then I guess we will have to do without." Taelas said before diving forward.

He heard the other two yell after him but Taelas ignored them. If they simply ran from this thing they would just have to fight it later. Diving through the air Taelas spiraled downward his body suddenly bursting into flames. The spinning fiery bullet sliced clean through the creature's right arm, leaving a gaping hole. The sludge like limb fell to the ground, attached but now useless.

Coming out of the dive Taelas landed on the ground his speed forcing him to slide across the stone. Turning as he slid the dragon loosed a bolt of lightning sending pulses of electricity up and down the creature, as well as pushing Taelas back further.

The flurry of attacks had more than gathered the beast's attention, and it began an extremely slow turn trying to face its attacker. Taelas started to move again meaning to give it no time to react, but he was stopped by Syra, who landed in front of him.

"Taelas, we have to go now!" She begged trying to push the dragon in the opposite direction of the creature.

"Why? This thing isn't so tough." Taelas argued, as he watched the massive creature closely, he didn't want to be caught off guard.

"You don't understand Taelas; if it catches you then you will die there are no second chances when you fight one of these things." She said her tone so serious that it made even Taelas tense up. "You're attack slowed it, but it won't last, we have to go. Now!" She said yelling the last word for emphasis.

"I can't just- Taelas interrupted himself as he watched in horror, the massive creature turning with unnatural speed. "Syra!" He could only yell her name before the blow was struck. The dragoness reacting quicker than he could have thought possible, shoving him away and when Taelas looked again she was gone swept up in a large dark fist.

"Taelas!" She heard the dragoness scream. It took him a split second to locate the dragoness, caught in the beast's grasp.

"Run!" She screamed the exclamation was followed by a sickening crunch and Syra's body went limp. Taelas seemed to go numb as he stared at his friend's body still caught in the behemoth's fist, the last vestiges of her life draining away from her body.

The creature, hearing the snap as well flicked its wrist, tossing Syra's body back into its opened mouth, devouring her whole. Taelas quivered in silent rage as the creature focused on him once more. With lightning speed and precision the same massive hand shot forward, seeking to claim his life as well.

Taelas heard the screams of the others, warning him of the imminent danger. He didn't heed their words. Standing his ground the dragon's maw opened wide, a focused burst of violet light stretching forth. The arm stopped dead in its tracks, shaking slightly as if it could not push through the light. The beam widened and grew engulfing the creature. There was a ghoulish shriek that pierced the air as the massive creature began to writhe and shrink. Like a plant in the sun the giant shrank, and shriveled bending and contorting until it simply crumpled up and blew away dissolving like its smaller brethren.

When the being was gone Taelas shut his mouth with great effort. He had only been told of that power, that he held. He had never used it before, and honestly did not know how to summon it. As his mind began to run circles he felt his muscles give in to exhaustion, and he fell on his haunches and then down completely, the attack draining him.

"Taelas are you alright?" He heard a voice say close to him. It was Aria she had a paw on his shoulder, and was shaking him gently.

"Syra. She is?" He asked, already knowing the answer, he had seen it with his own eyes but he couldn't believe it. He could see Aria, tears welling in her eyes, as she nodded slowly.

Seeing the answer that he already knew to be true Taelas closed his eyes trying to hold back tears. A few moments passed in silence as Ivarik walked up next to them, his head hung low.

"It was my fault." Taelas said. "I was the one who wanted to fight. I was the one who got her killed." Taelas said his voice breaking. As he pushed himself back to a sitting position, the movement taking him a great amount of effort.

"It wasn't your fault Taelas." Ivarik said.

"Yes, it wasn't anyone's fault." Aria said putting a wing around him and pulling him close. It was an odd feeling for the purple dragon as the current role had always been reversed, with him comforting Aria. "Syra was a great dragoness, and none of us nor anyone else will forget about her." The dragons sat for a few moments, none of them speaking. The silence was broken only by Aria's soft sobs, Taelas and even Ivarik felt the same way but held back their tears.

After several minutes passed Ivarik spoke. "I don't want to be disrespectful, but we need to move, least the beasts catch up to us once more." The other two nodded in agreement and Aria helped Taelas back to paws which now felt wobbly under him.

"You've taxed yourself too much Taelas." Aria said as they continued to the tower, which was growing very close now, with no monsters in sight. "You cannot use such an attack after just coming out of a coma, you should be more careful."

"It had to be done Aria, it saved our lives." Taelas said quietly, as he found it hard to raise his voice to a more audible level.

The dragoness couldn't give anymore comments on the subject as she was interrupted by two other dragons. Two guards both armored and battle ready met the three just in front of the tower. At first they had looks of concern mixed with happiness to see dragons still arriving from the city. Then their eyes fell on Taelas and they immediately scowled.

"Why have you brought _him_ here?" One of the guards asked spitting on the ground in front of them.

"He saved our lives." Aria explained. "You have no right to refuse us now let us pass, he needs to lie down."

"I say leave him here." The other guard said. "He allowed this to happen, he failed all of us."

"You have no right to say that!" Aria argued, "He just came out of a coma, how could he have done anything."

Neither of the guards responded for a few seconds as they stared at the girl. "I say we kill him." One said a bigger and burlier one, who was obviously an earth dragon, a declared by his blunt features and emerald green scales. The other dragon nodded his own approval and before any of the younger dragons could react there was a rumbling of stone. Aria and Ivarik were suddenly encompassed by the rock covering most of their bodies, and keeping them from moving at all.

Taelas was still exhausted from his own fights so much so that he couldn't even help his friends or prevent the other dragon's attacks.

The smaller of the two dragons was the first to strike, leaping forward and spinning while angling himself so that his tail came down first crushing Taelas down into the stone. The dragon groaned as he felt his body breaking. To add to his pain as the guard's tail was drug away he let the pointed tip slid across the purple dragon's scales leaving a thin but deep wound down his back.

Taelas screamed in pain as he pushed himself back up to all fours. Standing there shaking he watched as the larger earth dragon rushed towards him, mouth opening, showing his razor sharp teeth. In the blink of an eye there was a flash of white light and the crackle of electricity. The violet dragon spat lightning at the earth dragon, the shock paralyzing him in place and make him convulse uncontrollable.

Cutting off his attack Taelas noted the other ice dragon charge his element before firing several icicles through the air like arrows from a bowstring. Taelas ducked the first before rolling away. In his injured state however he was not nearly fast enough to dodge. Two of the projectiles grazed his scales cutting wounds across his side.

The purple dragon felt his body simply stop working. First his front legs gave out and then his back ones. He coughed and sputtered as he fell to the ground, blood streaming from his fresh and open wounds.

Both of the other dragons moved forward. Taelas listened to them, hearing vague words as they seemed like they were far away from him. It sounded as though they were trying to decide who would take the killing blow. He could also hear Aria begging him to get back up. She was crying, he could tell.

Finally the green dragon pushed the other aside decided to take Taelas' life himself. The dragon pulled his tail back and aimed it straight for the dragon's heart.

"Stop!" Someone yelled behind the two, making the two guards stiffen instantly. Taelas was too far gone to truly understand who it was that had saved him.

The two guards separated, allowing two other dragons to pass. One who was a full adult like his parents had been, and the other a smaller dragoness who was more akin to his own age.

"Return to your posts, both of you!" Blaze yelled, sending the dragons scrambling back away from them. The rocks that had been chocking Aria and Ivarik fell to the ground once again lifeless, releasing the dragons. Aria ran to her brother collapsing next to him and trying to pick him back up, and stem the blood flow from his body. Ivarik instead of going to Taelas approached Blaze who was watching the siblings in silence, not knowing what to say.

"Lyara, what do you think?" Ivarik said turning to the silver dragoness standing silently next to Blaze.

The dragoness deciphered the vague question. "Our fate is grim." She said simply.

"You don't mean that…" Ivarik trailed off the seriousness of the answer setting in.

"The prophecy has faltered." Lyara said darkly, as she stared at Taelas, meeting the dragon's eyes.

"You!" Taelas yelled suddenly coming back into the moment, his body jogged back into action by the dragoness' voice. "You're the one…" He said as he stood up and stumbled forward.

"Taelas stop, you need to lie down!" Aria pushed trying to settle him down.

Ignoring her Taelas continued slowly closing the gap between them. "You have spoken to me. In my mind."

"Taelas, correct?" Lyara asked looking more to Aria than the dragon.

Aria nodded. "Please he isn't himself right now; he only woke up an hour ago."

"I see." Lyara said turning back to the purple drake. "Taelas I have only met you once, the time that you found me, before you were attacked by Sol and Arum."

"No!" The dragon yelled making all the others around him jump. "Ever since I woke up, I have heard your voice, speaking to me, telling me things." Taelas said. "Why?" He asked, and getting no answer he repeated the question.

"He is tired, and has been through a lot of stress." Aria said.

"Perhaps I can help." Lyara said, stretching out a paw to touch him. The purple dragon recoiled from her touch, but couldn't get far as his body wouldn't allow him to move. After a moment of struggle the dragoness' paw pressed gently on his crest.

Taelas felt his body go limp, and his mind go blank. His vision darkened as he fell to ground. As his vision faded to the blackness of sleep he heard the same voice in his head.

"You have come back from the brink, only to be shoved over the edge again."

As soon as the words stopped Taelas woke up shooting up into a sitting position. It was as if he hadn't slept at all, his weariness seeping in once more. He turned his head slowly to see Aria sitting next to him along with Ivarik. The dragoness was leaning on him, her head near to his, and his wing covering her. Surprising to Taelas was that neither of them looked at ease. Both in fact looked awestruck and paralyzed, as if frozen in time. It was then that sound came back to Taelas' ears, as if he had come up from below water. All around him were screams, crying, and fighting. Looking forward Taelas saw the chaos and destruction. The tower had been overrun. Dragons were being slaughtered everywhere, their blood staining the stone a permanent crimson.

To his horror he saw in front of him Lyara standing before Sol and Arum. The massive dragons took up most all of Taelas' vision, their stature more immense than any creature Taelas had known. It was Arum that broke into action first. Rearing back his head he spat a typhoon of black fire that engulfed Lyara, when the barrage of fire faded the silver dragoness was no-where to be seen.

Both the dragons cackled manically as they proceeded forward, their eyes locking on Taelas, and those near to him. Before the purple dragon could think to react it was already over, not that he would have been able to do anything in his state anyway.

Sol spat some sort of crystalline glowing projectiles. They resembled spikes of ice, but upon further inspection anyone could tell that they were made of a much tougher and stranger material. The spikes came like rainfall slicing through everyone around him, Taelas being the only one spared. Taelas noted with a breaking heart that even Aria and Ivarik had not managed to save themselves. It appeared as though Ivarik had tried to shield Aria from the attack, but it did nothing to stop the hail of crystal which devastated them.

"I almost don't believe it." Arum said bringing Taelas' attention back to him. "The same purple dragon, you should be dead!" Arum spat.

"He doesn't look too good as it is Arum." Sol said softly. "Perhaps we should allow him time to recover."

"You were always the nice one Sol." Arum laughed. "But this is a matter that derives not from kindness, this one must die." He said approaching the dragon and lifting his deadly pointed tail. "Darkness has fallen on you young dragon." He said as he plunged his tail forward.

This time there was no one to save the drake. The violet dragon felt the blade penetrate his chest. The only luck that he had was that he was already so numb so that he hardly felt anything at all. As he fell to the ground his last bits of life leaving him, he heard Lyara's voice one last time. It was as clear as crystal.

"You have been to the brink and back, the prophecy has been laid out before you, you're path set in stone. This world is yours to protect."

**A/N: Because I feel I should say this. This is not the end of the story, maybe you weren't even thinking that, but I just want to make sure that everyone knows it is not over yet.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Here we go the next chapter. I only have one note for this chapter. I have been told by a few people that I have a few or a lot (I don't really know) of grammatical errors and quotation errors. I do proofread but I just want to say that if anyone sees these mistakes and would care to point them out to me I would appreciate it, and will fix them. Otherwise enjoy the chapter.**

Taelas sat up with a gasp. The sudden movement made pain shoot through his body. The strange thing was that his entire being hurt every scale, muscles, bone, claw, and horn. The dragon refrained from screaming as he tried to focus himself and his senses. Nothing felt right; the last thing he remembered was being killed by Arum, and then that same strange voice whispering words to him.

"Mine to protect." The dragon said softly.

He pondered the meaning of the strange words as his vision slowly cleared up. Shouldn't he be dead? Perhaps he was and this was the afterlife. As thoughts continued to race through his mind, the drake's vision finally stabilized, and he could see again. What his eyes saw shocked him; he was back in his room, in his house, in a place that was supposed to be destroyed, blown to oblivion.

Forcing himself to sit up, despite the immense agony he felt, the dragon looked around. Everything was in order, it appeared to be dusk outside of his window, and he could hear the soft sweet songs of the birds outside, as well as the sounds of dragons in the streets below, each moving back to their homes after a long day. All of the confusion only made Taelas' head hurt more so than it already did.

He was so caught up with the noises outside that he had yet take notice of something quite strange right next to him. Feeling a warmth right next to him the dragon looked down. To see a silver dragoness that he recognized. Lyara lay next to him asleep, her body curled up next to his.

Taelas' mind raced, he even thought for a moment that he would pass out from the shock of everything. He wasn't too far off as he could feel his strength waning. Everything that was around him was gone, destroyed by Sol and Arum, Lyara and the others were dead, Taelas himself was dead.

"Lyara!" He growled trying very hard to keep his voice low, and not a howling plea. The dragoness did not stir, and so Taelas pushed her weakly with a paw, he would have been much more forceful, but his strength would not come to him no matter how much he tried to muster it.

Nevertheless it was enough to wake her up. The silver scaled beauty nodded her head slightly, and furled her brow, her sleep was being disturbed, and she was none too happy about it. The dragoness' lids opened slightly, and slowly revealing luscious crimson irises. The orbs slowly came into focus her pupils adjusting to the dim light in the room, as the dragoness shakily pushed herself up to a sitting position. Noting the movement Taelas could tell that she was more than just tired something had happened, something that had drained her of energy.

"Taelas you're up." Lyara said staring at him groggily, shocked at the sight. "And already standing." She added as the purple dragon got up on all fours.

"Lyara, I really hope that you can explain all of this to me." Taelas said looking around the room still astonished.

"What do you mean?" The dragoness asked taking a quick survey of their surroundings as well, to ensure that nothing was out of place.

"I mean that all of this was destroyed. You…you were dead." Taelas explained making the silver dragoness cringe as he spat the words. "I saw you die, Arum killed you." The dragon paused for a moment, seeming to calm down slightly. "And then he killed me."

"Have you lost yo- The dragoness stopped midsentence her eyes lighting up as she seemed to remember something important. Suddenly she took a deep breath and stared at the floor for a moment, collecting her thoughts.

"What? What is it?" Taelas asked his curiosity forcing his tongue.

"Taelas, that wasn't real. None of what you saw was real." Lyara said calmly. The purple dragon actually began to laugh at this, Lyara couldn't tell if it was from happiness or if the dragon was simply going insane, it was quiet likely after what she had done to him, a calculated and necessary risk in her mind.

"Taelas." She said silencing the purple drake's chortling. "Taelas all of that was a dream. All of it, you were told that you had been in a coma for three months, correct?" Taelas stared at her hard, suddenly unmoving, before he nodded in response. "Then you saw the city in flames, Sol and Arum destroying everything, and then you woke up."

Up until the last bit of her sentence Taelas had been bobbing his head up and down slowly like a child, but then he suddenly stopped himself.

"No, I didn't wake up." Taelas said. "I died."

"No, the dream should have ended it should have been a short five minute sight." Lyara said confused.

"Are you saying that you were the one who gave me this dream?" Taelas asked cocking his head to the side just slightly, his mind putting the pieces together slowly.

Lyara stared at the dragon for a moment unsure of what to say, fear coursing through her body. It took her a while before she nodded the gesture so small that if Taelas had blinked he would have never known she did it.

At that moment Taelas became enraged, his whole body quivering in anger. The dragon roared loudly shaking the house, and sending chills down Lyara's spine. Before she could scramble away however the dragon caught her clasping her neck in his shadowy claws.

"Do you know what I had to see?" The dragon yelled. "I watched my home being destroyed; I saw my race become extinct!" The dragon paused for a moment as he felt suddenly woozy, but the feeling passed almost as quickly as it had come. "I was told that everything that had happened, every life lost; every city destroyed was my fault." He said in almost a whisper. "I was told that my parents had died. But worst of all I watched as you and everyone else that I have ever held dear died, killed by an onslaught of monsters!"

"Taelas I understand, but you need to calm down." Lyara said feeling the dragon's chocking claws cupping her neck and squeezing the oxygen out of her body.

"Calm down?" The dragon asked as if the question were absurd. "Calm down? If you had seen what I did then you would-

In midsentence Taelas simply stopped talking, his grasp on Lyara loosening as he suddenly collapsed on the floor, asleep once more. Lyara rubbed her neck as she felt air flow back into her lungs.

"Lyara what is going on in here? I heard Taelas' voice." Aria said from the doorway.

"He woke up." Lyara explained, staring at the dragon's body. "Momentarily."

"It sounded like he was yelling." Aria said moving across the room to move her brother who was lying in an odd position. The ice dragoness moved his body slightly putting him in a much more comfortable position.

"He, he was." Lyara said trying to think of a way she could explain the situation.

"Well, you were here what did he yell about?" Aria asked turning from her brother and back to the dragoness, she had been to sidetracked to notice the dragoness' hesitation but now she was beginning to catch on as he stared at the silver creature.

She still didn't really trust her. Lyara had simply shown up and she was quiet the strange dragoness. She was always talking to herself, as if a madness had overtaken her. Her grasp of the common things in the world were very rough, but the strangest thing that Aria had noted was that she claimed to be a goddess. Lyara had not made this claim to her of course, but Ivarik had informed her of what the dragoness had said during their first meeting.

As the dragoness fidgeted nervously Aria grew impatient. Taking a few steps forward the dragoness moved right into the goddess' face. "What did my brother say? So help me if you did something to him, I will make you regret it.

Lyara stared back at the now fuming dragoness, a frightened look on her face. She was in no shape to fight. Ever since she had confronted Sol and Arum she had been drained of her strength. Sol and Arum's combined attack, and then her tampering with Taelas' dreams had drained her of what little she had left.

"I think he was just having a nightmare." Lyara said still trying to hide the truth.

"If you had lead with that I would believe you." Aria said in an accusatory tone.

"What do you want from me?" Lyara asked. "If you don't believe me then what am I to tell you?"

"I want you to tell me the truth, not once has Taelas ever woken up screaming." Aria said.

"He has been through a traumatizing event." The dragoness argued.

"Fine, then what did he say?" Aria asked determined to get some sort of answer from her.

"He yelled about…" Lyara paused for a moment as she debated with herself on telling the truth of not. Her decision fell in somewhat of a grey area. "He was angry at me it seemed. He was yelling about Sol and Arum, a nightmare, as I said before. It was mostly gibberish nothing coherent."

Aria narrowed her eyes scanning the dragoness for anything that would signify her lying.

"Answer me this, what would I have to gain from lying to you?" Lyara asked, leaving Aria in thought. "Please, I need my sleep; I promise that I have told you the truth."

"If you touch him, you won't be forgiven. I only trust you because Ivarik tells me to." Aria said pushing her head forward so that she was inches from the dragoness' face. "Bring him any ill, and you won't live to see the sunset." She said pushing Lyara back down to the ground.

The silver dragoness simply lay there as Aria turned and left the room. Once she had gone Lyara grunted slightly as she pushed herself back up to a sitting position. It was astounding even to herself how weak she was at the moment, never before had she felt so helpless. The dragoness looked to Taelas and raised a weak claw, tapping the dragon and pushing his body slightly, trying to wake him once more.

It only took a slight push to bring him from his resting state. The purple dragon's eyelids drew back like shutters, and his eyes darted back and forth restlessly. Turning his head the dragon saw Lyara who looked stunned again and Taelas jumped up standing before her.

"How do you have such energy?" Lyara gasped. "The vision should have drained you of physical strength as well, as if you had actually lived it."

Taelas wasn't listening as he snorted fire from his nostrils. "You are going to tell me what happened, what you did, why I saw the things that I saw. If you leave anything out, I swear I will find out, and you will regret your lies with your dying breath." The dragon hissed.

"Are all of your kind so vengeful and quick to kill?" Lyara asked, thinking back to Aria who seconds before had also threatened to hurt her as well.

Taelas however was in no mood to play. The dragons bladed tail whipped around with unnatural speed, coming to a sudden halt in Lyara's neck. The blade poked her scales, but did not break them or make her bleed. The dragoness gulped as she realized the sudden seriousness of the situation.

"I'm in no mood to play." Taelas said, breathing laboriously between each word, he may be acting tough but anyone with common sense could tell that the dragon was hardly in shape to do anything.

"Fine, I'll tell you, there isn't any need for force." Lyara said her eyes darting from the blade to Taelas. "Please, if you could just…" The dragoness trailed off as she slowly raised a paw, and pushed the dragon's tail away. To her surprise Taelas didn't react to her moving his tail away, although she did not question it.

"Do you remember the night that Sol and Arum attacked you?" The dragoness asked and Taelas nodded. "After almost killing you, they threw you into the city probably expecting that to do the job and send the dragons of this place a message, you smashed through a statue when you landed, I was surprised that you are still alive even now." The dragoness said.

"I remember it, vaguely." Taelas said slowly, the memory coming back more as a searing pain than an actual memory.

"You were knocked unconscious." Lyara said. "After that we brought you back here, your house I assume." She said looking around seemingly amazed at the room in which she had been resting.

"And?" Taelas pressed jogging the dragoness from her thoughts. He was already feeling his strength fade. He was finding it hard to stand as it was, and his vision was blurring occasionally. He shook the weakness from his body though, refusing to go without answers any longer.

"Once you were asleep I induced the vision, to show you what would happen if you would not act." Lyara said. "But something must have gone wrong as you obviously did not see what I intended for you to see. If I had to guess I would say that it is because you are a purple dragon, your mind and body being more resilient to mental attacks. Somehow you took the initial vision and changed it taking the scene further than I had intended."

"So you are saying that this is my fault?" Taelas asked.

"No, it is mine and I am sorry, if I would have known that this would happen I never would have given you the vision." Lyara explained quietly.

There was a pause between the two. Lyara was waiting to see what Taelas would say, and if he would forgive her or not. It took a few moments but eventually Taelas spoke.

"What gave you the impression that I would not act of my own accord?" Taelas asked.

"Most who would suffer a blow that you have given to them by gods no less would run scared." Lyara explained.

"I'm different from most then." Taelas said simply.

"So you didn't actually need the vision then?" Lyara asked feeling regret well up within her.

"Maybe you should ask before you tamper with people's minds." Taelas responded.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't be sure. As I said most would run from this, and Sol and Arum are not something you can run from." Lyara said.

"Well if you're so intent on fixing this then how do you purpose that we do it?" Taelas asked.

"Me?" Lyara asked curiously, having no idea what Taelas was getting at.

"Yes, goddess you." Taelas said stressing on her self-proclaimed title.

"Ah, yes." The dragoness said turning away from Taelas. "I have something else to tell you as well."

"That you were making up the whole goddess thing for some strange need for attention?" Taelas asked sarcastically.

Lyara stared at him one brow raised. "You rattled that off a little too fast."

"I knew a girl once." Taelas explained. "She thought she had to make up reasons for others, like myself, to show interest in her." The violet dragon smiled slightly at the memory, until he noted Lyara's stare out of his peripherals. "But, I'm getting off topic." He said facing her once more.

"Yes. As I was saying I am a goddess, despite what doubts you may have. But Sol and Arum have done something to me. I can't seem to remember much else other than that small fact, and the last few nights."

"That seems like an awfully convenient story." Taelas said.

"My memory will return with time, I have already begun to remember small things. You however must learn to trust others Taelas. I may have lost my memory, but I can still remember fragments about you, your life, personality, hardships, and triumphs. I have watched you for many days."

"That is…" The dragon paused as he tried to think of the right words. "Strange."

"A being such as myself has need to watch over dragons like you Taelas." Lyara said her tone of voice akin to an elder's.

"A being such as yourself?" Taelas asked. "You make it sound as though you aren't a dragon." Taelas laughed. His laughter waned quickly though as he realized that Lyara was staring at him with a perfectly serious face. "You are a dragon, are you not?"

"I will answer your questions in time, but for now you must rest. This is a lot to take in, and despite your attempts to remain firm, I can see your strength fading." Taelas began to argue, but realized she was right as he almost fell over trying to move.

"No, I need more answers, you still have things that you haven't told me." Taelas argued weakly.

"Taelas if you don't sleep I will have to force you." The dragoness said standing up.

"What are you going to do?" Taelas asked.

"Sleep now, I will tell you more later." Lyara said stretching out a paw to his chest and touching him slightly. Taelas was suddenly reeling as he felt a sudden wave of exhaustion overcome him. It was much more than the dragon could handle in his current state of being and he dropped to the ground, asleep before he touched down.

Lyara looked at his now slumbering form with concern, as a parent would their child. Despite Taelas' forward attitude about fighting to save this world she hardly believed that he was serious, at least not as serious as he had stated. Time would tell as it always did though, and the dragoness was in no shape to rush it.

"Lyara." She heard from the doorway, her name grabbing her attention. The dragoness turned to see Syra standing in the doorway. The crimson dragoness did not live here, but in the brief time that Lyara had spent awake she realized that this one must spend most of her time with Taelas and Aria.

"What is it?" She asked as Syra stepped into the room.

"The others and I are about to eat, if you would like to join us. Some food would probably do you good."

"I think that you are probably right." Lyara said after a short pause, and she proceeded to walk shakily to meet the dragoness near the entrance end of the room.

"How has he been?" Syra asked to Lyara, her eyes on Taelas the whole time.

"I believe that he is getting better, much faster than I would have expected." Lyara answered.

"Purple dragons heal quickly; at least that's what Spyro says." Syra replied. "And how about you?" She asked turning to the silver dragoness. "Are you feeling better?"

"Slightly, I still feel worn." Lyara said.

"Well, take as much time as you need, you'll be safe here." Syra said with a smile.

Lyara felt the sincerity in her voice, but she couldn't help but laugh slightly at the comment. When Syra looked at her with curious eyes Lyara answered her question. "I won't be safe anywhere, but it is kind of you and your friends to take me in."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Syra asked as the dragoness slowly walked past her and towards the hallway.

"It means that you can't hide from gods, and you can't be safe when they are trying to kill you." Lyara explained.

"Sol and Arum have not attacked us yet." Syra argued.

"That is because we are in a large city, attacking would be like two of them going up against an army of foes."

"So we are safe then." Syra confirmed.

"Perhaps, at least until they summon an army of their own." Lyara answered leaving the dragoness looking stunned.

"Summoned?" She uttered.

"They probably already started bringing minions here, terrible creatures really, but come it's time to eat." Lyara said ending the conversation in a sweet tone.

Sol and Arum starred at the portal that hovered before them the area simply ripping into a hole in the very world. The black twisting nether on the other side would seem foreboding to any other, but to Sol and Arum it was home. It was a darker part of convexity than any other, a place that had turned the two into the twisted visages that they now were.

Just behind the two massive dragons stood Xranik, Valas, Malik, and Katrina. The four leaders of the cult stood in awe at the large gateway before them. After Sol and Arum had returned from their encounter with Lyara and Taelas they both began to ignore everyone else. It was only the previous night that Xranik had finally managed to get a word out of Sol, he seemed to approach him more often due to the fact that he was less volatile than his brother. Despite this he was just as cruel and angry; it just didn't show through his blindingly white scales.

The two gods were apparently trying to open a gateway back to convexity, to call reinforcements.

"Why might I ask do you need reinforcements?" Xranik asked approaching the two larger dragons from behind. He appeared as a nagging child would to its parents. His voice dulled by the stature of the two before him.

"We need reinforcements because you…" Arum paused to turn around his voice booming now. "you and your incompetent race have let Lyara escape!"

As Xranik fumbled for a response Arum continued to speak. "Who was responsible for this failure.

Xranik stepped back after that allowing one of his lieutenants to step forward. Malik came forward staring straight at Arum unflinching. "My dragons were in charge of apprehending Lyara."

"They failed!" Arums shouted his voice being heard miles away from their position.

"Give us another chance and surely we can catch her." Malik said trying to keep calm but not doing a very good job.

"Another chance you say." Arum replied. "Perhaps I could give you another chance but what if you were to fail us again?"

"I promise you that I would not, I cannot." Malik said.

"And why can you not do that?" Arum asked slyly.

"Because, failure is intolerable." Malik said, not thinking about what he had said until it was too late.

"You are correct dragon, failure is intolerable." Arum said with a smile before he swept his tail around stabbing Malik in the back, the massive blade leaving an enormous gash. Malik coughed hardly realizing his fate before the life left his body, his blood slowly draining out onto the grass.

"Failure is intolerable." Arum said turning to Xranik. "Remember this."

It took a long time for Xranik to finally say something. "One dragoness cannot possibly be enough to turn the scales." The dragon argued weakly. He was doing well to ignore the fact that one of his best fighters had just been murdered in cold blood, for a mistake that his minions had made. Under any other circumstances Xranik would have been outraged, but if he were to act out he too would be killed.

"No, not dragoness." Sol said turning to face them as well. "You think that just because she takes your form she is one of you?"

"But she is, isn't she?" Xranik asked innocently.

"Just because she takes on a form that is akin to your own does not mean that she is one of you." Sol explained.

"Then what is she exactly?" Xranik asked.

"She is a beast, a paradox within herself." Arum explained.

"A twisted creature made of light and dark, and capable of world-wide destruction. She could end you in an instant." Sol said softly but threateningly mere inches from Xranik's face, his breath coursing around him like the wind.

"If she is almighty capable of so much then why have none of us ever heard of her?" Xranik said asking the question that all of the dragons present were thinking.

"It is none of your concern." Arum hissed, taking offense to the question for an unknown reason.

"If she is our enemy I think that we deserve to know. We brought you here after all." Xranik said.

"You may have helped us to get to this world, but we no longer need you. The sheer fact that you are still alive is out of good will. Repayment for your help, such kindness is a rare gesture by us."

"And it is a kindness that we would have no trouble recalling, that is if you so truly wish to die?" Sol said grinning evilly.

"Fine." Xranik said chocking on the words.

"Lyara is a creature that you should leave to us." Arum said turning back to the massive black portal as the first large plasma skinned creature emerged. "You and your cult would just serve as fodder for her."

Lyara stared at the food on the table before her. The silver dragoness ate, but not nearly as much as any of the others, her appetite was missing for reasons that she could not explain.

"Lyara." The black dragoness' voice brought her head up from her meal. "You aren't eating, would you like something else?"

"No, it tastes fine, I'm just not hungry." Lyara replied quickly.

"Nonsense. You have hardly eaten in three days, you must be hungry." Spyro argued.

"I don't eat very much." Lyara said trying to laugh at her own words, so that the conversation didn't sound quite so serious.

"Alright, its fine if you don't feel like eating, just don't starve yourself." Spyro said.

"Noted." Lyara said nodding. After that word there was silence for a few moments all of the dragons eating in silence.

"Lyara, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from?" Spyro asked, making all of the younger dragons perk up, although they did well to hide their reactions as they looked to the dragoness for her answer.

"I am from…a far away place." She answered as she stumbled with her own words.

"Specifically?" The purple dragon asked as he pried for an answer.

"A small town off of the coast of the Azure Rift Ocean, and near to the forests of Violetmere." The dragoness explained after a split-second of thought. "We called the town Selance."

The names and places stunned the younger dragons as they had hardly heard of anything outside the area of Warfang. The world was much bigger than they imagined, but outsiders were a rarity, and due to Lyara's nature they had to wonder if she was even telling the relative truth. First she had claimed to be a goddess now she was speaking of far off towns, it was apparent to them that it would be tough to pin down this dragoness' story.

"Selance." Spyro said thinking for a moment, the name ringing a familiar tone in his mind. "That is across the continent, and-

"North of here, yes. The winters were not to my liking." Lyara said finishing his thought.

"I must ask." Cynder said interjecting. "How and why would you come all this way to Warfang?"

"To find something, and to keep two dragons to from making a big mistake." The dragoness explained.

"Sounds secretive." Spyro said.

"I choose to keep my business private. I am sorry if that upsets you, I do not mean to be secretive." Lyara apologized. Realizing that the dragons were going to continue asking questions the dragon chose to take her leave, her limited memory would not serve her well if they continued to speak with her. She had remembered the bit about Selance only seconds before she spoke it, pure luck and she thanked her ancestors for it.

"I am feeling tired, if you do not mind I will leave now." The dragoness said.

"Please stay here as long as you need, we would not want to send you out before you are ready."

"Thank you, your kindness is great. I'm afraid I have no way to repay you however."

"Repayment?" Spyro asked laughing. "If I were asking for that it would not be hospitality."

"My thanks then." Lyara said smiling meekly, and giving a slight bow before proceeding upstairs.

As the dragoness left Ivarik, Syra, and Aria looked at each other as they continued to finish their meals. Spyro looked at Cynder and made sure that the silver dragoness was out of earshot.

"Something is wrong with her." He said as soon as she had gone, the plain statement catching everyone's attention not just Cynder's.

"Spyro! Why would you say that?" She asked.

"Think about it Cynder. Salence? Do you remember anything about that place?" Spyro asked as he watched the black dragoness shake her head. "It was destroyed, the dragons killed, rogue apes from Malefor's reign had sieged the town. It happened ten years ago."

"Then she escaped and has been living on her own." Cynder suggested.

"No dragon that young could live for that long. Especially not in the wilds around Salence, it was and still is a gruesome place."

"So what would you make of her story?" Cynder asked.

Spyro never got a chance to respond as there was a short and sharp rap on the front door. Cynder shrugged as Spyro went to answer it. Aria watching curiously, rarely did they have any visitors.

Spyro drew back the door to find two other dragons his own age. They were guards; it was obvious by their shiny metallic armor.

"What is it?" Spyro asked.

"We came to tell you, because we knew that you hadn't heard. It's about Taelas and Ridan." He said.

"It's been decided they want to take Taelas into custody."

"What? He deserves a full trial!" Spyro growled.

"We know Spyro. We simply came to tell you, others should be here to pick him up soon, to take him away." The guard paused for a moment. "We are sorry, especially because of what happened to him a few days ago, we just wanted you know before they come here, so that you could have some time."

"Thank you both for telling me, if you don't mind though I would like to go to see to my son." Spyro said as the others nodded, understanding completely.

When the purple dragon closed the door and turned back around he found Cynder standing before him.

"You can't let them take him." She said on the verge of tears.

"Taelas, wake up right now!" Aria said scrambling to the dragon's body and shaking him awake.

"What, what, what?" The dragon asked groggily shaking his head around as he tried to steady his vision.

"They are coming to take you, we need to leave now." Aria said moving to Lyara who was lying down, only a few feet away eyes now open wide. "Lyara you are coming too." She said catching the dragoness' attention.

"Who is coming to get me?" Taelas asked forcing his weak body up.

"The guards, they still think that you killed Ridan." Aria explained pulling a reluctant Lyara up from the floor.

"So what you want to run?" Taelas asked.

"Run, or you will be put in jail, and you won't be coming out any time soon." Aria said. The dragoness didn't know what, but that idea seemed to trigger something within Taelas enough to get a reaction, as he suddenly went stone-faced. The dragon looked to Lyara who starred back at him nodding.

"We have to leave then." Taelas said.

"Not to disagree but weren't you against this just a moment ago?" Syra said butting into the conversation.

"I have good reasons, I can assure you, but for now we have to leave." The dragon said. "Syra, I don't expect you to come, in fact I don't want any of you to come, you aren't in trouble and if you come with me they will accuse you all too."

"Save it Taelas, we are going with you." Syra said looking to the others in turn who nodded.

"We can take care of ourselves, now let's go." Aria said moving towards the balcony across the room.

As the others moved in turn Lyara seemed to appear in front of Taelas, as if out of thin air. "You must learn to trust your friends Taelas let them help you, or else your pride will be your undoing."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Taelas asked as the dragoness walked away from him.

"I have lived more lives than you could know young one, I suggest you take the advice, and be happy to have friends who would follow you in such dark times. Now come, we must go." She said leaping out off of the balcony and into the night sky.

The dragon approached the balcony and took one last look back at his room, his home. "Mom, dad I'm sorry, I will see you again I promise, this is just something that I have to do, forgive me for leaving, please." The dragon whispered sadly as he leapt into the air, and away from his home.


	11. Chapter 11

The Gods Of Convexity Page 37

**A/N: My oh my that took a while. Sorry college is quiet distracting, not to mention I lost this a fourth of the way through because my laptop crashed while I was working on it. Hopefully you will all think it was worth the wait though, if nothing else there is a lot to read, its about triple the size of a normal chapter. Anywho enjoy! **

"Where is he?" The dragon asked angrily his temper beginning to get the best of him.

"We don't know. I've told you that." Spyro said to the irritated looking guard who simply sighed in response.

"Well then when was the last time that you did see him?" The dragon asked hoping for some sort of helpful answer.

"I last saw Taelas this morning he has been resting, or have you forgotten that he was damn near mortally wounded." Spyro said trying and failing to hide his anger.

"I have not forgotten." The guard replied timidly, the violet dragon's voice striking a small bit of fear into him.

"Then you should believe me when I tell you that I do not know where he went. It isn't like he could simply get up on his own and leave."

"You saw that your daughter is missing as well." The guard argued. "Perhaps she took Taelas with her."

"Perhaps, I would not know, I cannot read Aria's mind." Spyro said sarcastically. When the guard gave him an angered stare Spyro continued to speak. "You have already searched my home, what more do you want?"

"Why are you even doing this, Taelas has done nothing wrong." Cynder said stepping into the conversation unexpectedly.

"He has committed murder, which is far more than nothing." The guard answered.

"It is impossible Ridan's wounds were too large to be made by Taelas, someone is framing him." Cynder said trying to reason with the guard, although she sounded more desperate than anything.

"Find me proof of that and I will believe you, until then hold your deceitful tongue." The guard replied hotly.

"Get out." Spyro growled, grabbing the dragon's attention and that of the two who were standing behind him.

"What?"

"I said get out! I'll not have you talk to my mate that way."

"The investigation is not finished." The guard said, although his argument felt weak as Spyro's imposing figure stood over him.

"We have told you what we know you have no further need to be here." Spyro said snorting fire from his nostrils.

The guard was backing away as he spoke once more. "You realize that if you are doing anything to hide or protect him then you will also be guilty."

Ignoring the claim Spyro moved forward pushing the dragons back towards the front door. "You are mere seconds from death" The purple dragon said flashing his sharp fangs. "If you have any amount of intelligence you will leave before I send you out of here in pieces."

The guards left the house without words after that, having no desire to go up against a mighty purple dragon, especially not one of Spyro's stature. Once he was gone Spyro felt Cynder lean onto his side as his anger melted away. The black dragoness was near tears, not unexpected as both of her children had disappeared leaving no clues as to where or why.

"Do you think that they will be okay?" Cynder asked.

"I would think so, our children our capable." Spyro answered nodding his head.

"Why would they leave though, what is the point?"

"I am sure that they had their reasons. Taelas has been involved in a lot of things lately, maybe it has something to do with that. It isn't completely unlikely, remember when we had adventures like that?" Spyro asked.

"I don't want Taelas to have those adventures, they nearly got us killed, I just want him to be safe." Cynder answered digging her head into Spyro's side.

"I know you do Cynder, I want him to be safe too, but unfortunately purple dragons are often thrust into the thick of things. We should simply hope for the best I know he will be fine. If however, they are not back soon, I will go looking for them." Spyro said hoping to put the dragoness' mind to rest.

Lyara coughed roughly as she fell to the ground feeling her body beginning to fail her. The dragoness held herself up with her forelimbs as she continued to cough until she eventually fell into the grass her pain slowly subsiding. It was only seconds later that she noticed a paw on her side, turning her head slowly she saw Taelas standing there, his sister next to him.

"Are you alright?" He asked concern obvious in his voice.

"I…I think so. I just feel ill." The silver dragoness replied as she began to stand back up her legs shaking and threatening not to support her.

"You're telling me." Taelas said helping her up, as he felt his own bones ache.

"We aren't far enough away from Warfang to stop now." Aria chimed in as she watched the two with curious eyes.

"Where would you suggest we go?" Ivarik asked coming up next to them, Syra at his side.

"Anywhere besides Warfang." Taelas responded.

"Specifically?" Ivarik asked.

All of the dragons were silent for a long time. Leaving Warfang was only the beginning. They still needed a plan of some sort some place to go, and to make their next move, whatever it may be.

"Salence." Lyara said suddenly breaking the silence.

"My father says that Salence is across the continent." Aria pointed out.

"And that the wilds around the place are dangerous. What would we have to gain from going there?" Syra asked.

"Nothing for you only for me." Lyara stated.

"What does that mean?" Taelas asked.

Lyara stared at the dragon intently, making the purple dragon more than a little nervous. "I remember now. Salence is where it all started."

"What do you mean?" Taelas asked.

"I mean that Salence is where everything began, I can explain but as you said we need to leave Warfang now."

"Alright then we will discuss this later." Aria said. "It's best that we leave now and get some distance between us and the city before morning."

"Head for Salence then." Lyara said raising a paw and pointing a talon past the other dragons. "It is that way, to the northeast."

"Alright, but perhaps we should walk for now, until you gain a bit of strength." Taelas said watching as the silver dragoness waved her wings feebly trying to lift herself from the ground.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Positive. Let's go, Ivarik you take the lead keep your eyes open, I doubt anything will attack, but it has been known for creatures to appear in these forests." Taelas said, getting a simple nod from Ivarik.

"Come on, I'll keep you company." Aria said trotting forward until she was by the dragon's side.

"I'll trail behind and make sure no one sneaks up on us." Syra said heading back behind the two.

"Thanks, just yell if you see anything, and don't get too far behind." Taelas answered smiling, to show his gratitude. That left only Lyara and Taelas in the middle by themselves, the others far enough away that their conversation would be private.

"Your friends are very organized." Lyara said looking to all of the dragons as they moved out.

"We try." Taelas said. "But I would like to hear more about Sol and Arum. What do you think their next move will be?"

Lyara looked at the dragon with sad eyes. "Taelas I told you I lost my memory."

"But you are gaining it back, you said it yourself." The violet dragon argued.

"Only some, Salence is one of the few things that I remember now, and I can't even be sure if that is correct. My memories are coming back in fragments, not even in chronological order."

"It's okay we can piece it all together, just give it time." Taelas said trying to console her.

"I just, don't know. Since I was created I have always known to some extent what needs to be done and now…"

"Now, you just can't figure things out. It's alright Lyara. We can get through this together, the burden isn't only on you, we are here to help out." Taelas said, only getting a meek nod in response. After a long silence Taelas asked his question. "Can you tell me why is that place so important, Salence I mean?"

"It is where the key to my power lies." Lyara said rather ominously.

"What do you mean?" Taelas asked.

"You've probably noticed that I am a lot weaker than when we first encountered. When Sol and Arum took my memories they were actually trying to destroy me. Fortunately their strength was not enough, and instead I was simply hurt and not killed."

"Okay so what does that have to do with Salence and your power?" Taelas questioned still not understanding what the dragoness was talking about.

"When they attacked they took something away from me that was vital to my existence." Lyara said trying to explain as best she could without going too far into detail.

"I still don't get it?" Taelas asked raising a brow. "What exactly did they do to you during your fight?"

"All things in good time, what you need to know now is that the key to finding my power once more is in Salence." Lyara said. "We need to go there as soon as we can."

"I want to know what you remember about this, Salence." Taelas said.

"What? Why?" The dragoness said suddenly nervous.

"Do you have something to hide?" Taelas asked picking up on her sudden emotion.

The silver dragoness walked in silence for a few moments her mouth gaping open as she fumbled for a response. "I…I just-

"You can tell all of us tonight once we stop moving, it's important that we all know what is happening, instead of going in blind." Taelas said his tone making the decision final.

Lyara nodded solemnly, she could not argue with the sound logic. In truth she was being silly anyway, she could afford to tell the story if it would help them all.

It was some time later that the dragons finally settled down for the night. They had trekked at least three miles on the ground before they stopped to rest. Launching into the air for a few seconds and gaining some altitude Taelas looked around in the night sky, trying to determine where they were exactly. After moving for so long on the ground in the forests he had lost track of where they were exactly.

"Alright, everyone." Taelas said grabbing the others attention. "Lyara has a little something that she wants to tell us."

"I want to tell you?" The dragoness questioned raising a brow.

"Yes, you want to tell us because we are your good friends." Taelas said sarcastically.

"What is it about?" Syra asked lying down.

The silver dragoness laid herself down slowly on the soft grass, and gave a sigh. "I haven't been entirely honest with you all."

"I could have told you that." Ivarik said as he too sat down on the grass.

Lyara gave him a short glare, but it was a weak one. "I have been here before this time. I lived a life among dragons as one of you as I am now."

"Alright, so what does this have to do with now?" Aria asked.

"Some of the things that I did back then are having repercussions now." Lyara explained. "When I came to this world all of those years ago I came to Salence, what happened there was…tragic."

"Why don't you start from the beginning then." Aria said sitting down as well.

Lyara took another deep breathe before continuing. "Alright, it all started many years ago."

Lyara stood in a large temple. The dull stone structures were grand, but without much flair. The hanging buttresses, columns, and chiseled cobblestone seemed to lose its grandeur, especially with her in the room. Her silver scales shown brilliantly even in the pale light. Through the windows she could see the twisting nexus energies of convexity, the purple hues bouncing lazily through the outer darkness of the realm. All of that though was far from Lyara's mind, inside the large stone structure; she stood as still as a statue, occupied by a large pool of still water. The enchanted surface was glazed with images from another world, the prime plane, a place that was not hers to watch over, but one that intrigued her more than anything else.

Hearing noise behind her the dragoness' concentration was broken as she watched the image in the water fizzle, and break slightly before reappearing as she regained control.

"Are you looking into that pool again?" She heard a soft voice from behind as she continued to stare, the image wavering slightly once more.

"Maybe we should take that thing away from her?" A similar voice yet deeper voice said.

"Don't be mean Arum." The other dragon responded, and Lyara could hear him rap the black dragon on the side.

"I'm thinking in a more forward direction." Arum said as he tried to sound crafty.

"You know that I can hear both of you right?" Lyara asked turning around to face the two the image completely fading from the water.

"We know we just don't ca-

"We are concerned." Sol said interrupting his brother.

"Concerned about what, I'm watching the dragons in their world." Lyara explained. "We are gods it is our job to watch over lesser beings."

"Of our own realm." Sol clarified.

"Nothing intelligent resides in this realm Sol. Nothing but dirt, dust, and rocks, and beasts."

"And us." Arum said.

"Great we are the gods of nothing then." Lyara said solemnly.

"You know better than that Lyara, this place, while it has no inhabitants it holds great power, power that others would harness and misuse. We are here to prevent that from happening."

"Well maybe I don't want to prevent it, maybe I just want to live a normal life, and be like…" The dragoness trailed off as if she was afraid to say the final word.

"What, like a mortal?" Arum asked spitting the last word with disgust. "Why would you want to be them, of all things, they are fragile, deceitful, and evil little creatures, doing whatever they can to gain power."

"That's not true and you know it." Lyara argued weakly.

"Fine then prove me wrong, show me that the mortals are worth caring about."

"A pleasure." Lyara said before turning away from the two as she started to mumble words that even the other two didn't recognize. That alone sent a shiver down both of their spines. Lyara had been endowed with more power and knowledge than both of them for the purpose of keeping them in check.

"Lyara what are you doing?" Sol asked nervously. The dragoness gave him no response however as energy began to swirl around body pulsating as it rotated. "Don't be crazy think about this!" The god pleaded.

"Come on Sol, you can't stop her that way." Arum said jumping forward towards the dragoness.

Lyara, eyes still closed, stepped to the side and made a curt spin in the air, slamming her tail into Arum, knocking him to the ground. All the while she continued to mutter phrases the energy around her now swirling and humming, as if begging to be released.

Sol and Arum watched the dragoness in fearful anticipation as she turned to a nearby wall, and in a sudden crescendo said the last words to the spell, whatever it was. In response the energy around her body flew past her in a pulse hitting the nearby stone wall. Upon contact the purplish beam flattened out into a pan shape making a hole in the wall blackness covering the inside.

"What did you think that I was doing?" The dragoness asked with a laugh as she walked over to the portal.

"Lyara what is that? What did you do?" Arum asked as he scrambled to get up.

"It's a portal, what else would it be." The dragoness replied nonchalantly.

"A portal to where exactly?" Sol asked.

"To the prime plane silly." Lyara said as if everything that had happened was one big joke.

"The prime plan but you can't go there." Sol argued.

"I can do what I want to do. You were the ones who told me to prove you wrong." Lyara said with a small smile. "Just stay here, I'll come back." She said walking towards the portal. Mere inches from its surface she turned back around to face them both. "And don't cause any trouble; I'll know if you do something."

"Lyara this is idiotic, you should know better, get over here now and close that thing!" Arum growled.

The dragoness chuckled at his attempt. "Make me." She said before hurtling backwards and delving into the portal and out of sight.

"Wait, wait, wait." Aria said interrupting the dragoness.

When the dragoness said nothing further Lyara looked at her with curious eyes. "What?" She asked.

"I'm just trying to get everything straight in my head. Sol and Arum." She said.

"Yes what about them?" Lyara asked.

"The enormous monsters that are supposedly trying to kill everyone, are your brothers?"

"Yes." Lyara stated as if it were a well-known fact.

"Then how did they get…you know, evil."

"That's much further along in the story, so far in fact that I probably won't get to it. This deals with something else entirely." Lyara explained. "Now if there are no other questions…" She said looking to each of the dragons.

"Actually, I would like to say that this story sounds exaggerated. I mean you beat down a god with your eyes closed while casting some spell." Ivarik said.

Lyara stared at the dragon with dull eyes, she needn't give a response to explain what she was thinking. "Are you done now?" She asked staring at the gold dragon.

"Quite." Ivarik responded.

"Anyway, as I was saying I leapt into the portal." Lyara continued.

Lyara tumbled down onto the ground. The dragoness rolled through the soft grass coming to a stop several feet away.

"Not the most graceful landing." She muttered as she dragged herself back up. It was only then that she got the chance to look around. Lyara made a full turn in place as she gazed at her surroundings in wonder. She was standing in a field of grass, the wild brush rolling calmly in the wind. Further in the distance was an ocean or a very large lake, she could not tell. In the other directions past the miles of rolling grass were mountains and forests, a picture of serenity in her eyes.

The dragoness inhaled taking it all in; never before had she stood in such a lively place. The prime plane was already proving to be more pleasant than convexity and she had not even begun to explore its depth. Feeling at ease the dragoness took a few steps through the grass, not knowing where she was going, but also not caring. She had only gone on for several moments before a ripping sound stopped her. The sky above her suddenly tore open and through the hole two recognizable figures tumbled through. Sol and Arum landed on the grass near to Lyara who stood in awe.

"Why did you follow me here?" She asked almost sounding angry, as the two got up.

"We didn't follow you here!" Arum yelled, obviously upset over the situation.

"Arum and I were transported unwillingly." Sol explained in a much more calm tone.

"Well fine then, I guess you are stuck here." Lyara said giving a shrug her emotion dying off as quickly as it had come on.

"No, make a portal, take us back." Arum said, approaching the dragoness.

"What are you going to do Arum? Are you going to fight me, make me take you back to convexity?" Lyara asked pushing the dragon back.

"I…I" The dragon stuttered as he tried to form a retort. He couldn't fight her she was stronger than him, and he couldn't just go back he had no way of making a portal back to convexity.

Lyara backed away letting the black dragon breathe. "It doesn't matter anyway; we are mortals now I can't make a portal."

"What?" Both dragons yelled at the same time.

"You heard me, mortal, now don't bother me, I'm going to find the nearest village." The dragoness said as she turned and walked away.

"You can't just leave us here!" Arum yelled, but Lyara wasn't listening. "I'll kill you!"

Lyara heard Arum sprint forward. The silver dragoness purposely waited until he was right behind her before spinning back and bringing her claws across slapping the dragon swiftly across his face, sending him to the ground.

"I said leave me alone. You're on your own." Lyara hissed, as she made a curt turn, and raised her leathery wings which billowed in the gentle breeze.

"Lyara you cannot just leave us. Think about what you are doing." Sol said, but the words never reached her, the silver dragoness beat her wings and rose into the air.

Lyara left the two far behind as she darted through the warm air. The land began to pass beneath her in a blur as she headed for what she was now assuming to be an ocean, as it was much too large to be a lake. It took her only a few minutes of travel until she saw what appeared to be exactly what she was looking for. A dragon village was down below near to the coast. The village was quaint probably only housing only fifty or so. Nestled into the edge of the forest and near to the rocky cliffs by the ocean the village looked picturesque.

Lyara was so caught up with the sight that as she began to veer towards the village she didn't notice the large rustling in the trees below. Before she could even change paths there was a piercing scream that sent a shiver through her body. The dragoness' head jerked to the side to find a massive scaled creature, with bird like wings rip through the foliage of the nearby forest and cut through the air towards her.

Lyara gasped in surprise and fear as the creature rammed into her trying to grasp her small body in its much larger talons. It succeeded in its attempt although only for a moment. Lyara finally realized what was going on and quickly bit down on the beast's claws forcing it to yelp in pain and release her.

The dragoness fell down and quickly turned her fall into a dive trying her hardest to gain speed as she plummeted towards the earth. Evening out nearly fifty feet from the ground Lyara flew over the ground like a bullet. Nearly two-hundred feet further down the dragoness barred her talons and descended the rest of the way skidding and spinning through the grass to look behind her at the massive creature.

The dragoness' mouth dropped as she saw the scaled creature diving straight for her, apparently it had made her its target and had thrown caution to the wind as it tried to kill her. The creature closed nearly as quickly as Lyara could formulate a plan in her mind.

The silver dragoness dived to the side as the creature smashed into the ground throwing up dirt and chunks of grass. The creature got back up nearly as quickly as it had crashed. It roared in anger as it snapped quickly at Lyara. The creature could swallow her whole in one bite. Lyara pushed off the ground and flapped her wings for extra effect, pushing her body just above the creature's snarling, and drooling maw. She heard the snap of its fangs as she fell back to the ground.

As she fell down the dragoness quickly gathered her energy before shooting a stream of crystals which embedded themselves into the beast's scaly spine. The creature writhed angrily at the pain across its back. Jerking its head side to side the beast smacked Lyara's body, sending her rolling across the grass like a ragdoll.

The dragoness slowly got back up her head spinning from the sudden attack. She knew she had to move quickly before she was attacked again, whatever the winged fiend would do, would probably kill her.

"Get up!" She heard a voice shout right by her, as she felt someone trying to drag her up. Getting her bearings she looked to see a red dragon standing beside her trying to pull her back to all fours. "Get up!" He yelled again giving her another pull.

"Get out of here you'll be killed!" Lyara shouted, shocking the dragon as he was not expecting such a forceful response.

The red dragon couldn't speak a response as they both heard another deafening roar, the beast's maw coming to engulf them. Lyara heard the other dragon telling her to run again, but she was paying him much attention. As the enormous jaw closed in Lyara's eyes flashed to inky onyx orbs, and dark swirling energy pulsed out from her body snapping into a bubble. The massive creature smashed into the shield, and writhed falling to the ground its body crumpling.

Lyara retracted the shield as the scaled fiend got back up.

Behind her she heard the red dragon ask, "What are you?" He was clearly stunned by the sudden display of power.

The creature had been hurt, but was far from dead, and therefore Lyara couldn't listen to the other dragon. She focused her energy again this time in her body. It only took a split second before she opened her wings and darted forward, releasing the energy in her slender frame which shot her forward even faster. Lyara smashed into the creature, hearing bones crack as the beast flew backwards, and fell off over the rocky cliffs screeching as it fell from sight.

Lyara stood very still where she landed her legs wobbly beneath her. She heard the other dragon running up next to her.

"That was amazing!" He shouted. "I've never seen anyone attack a Wyvern and win, it's unheard of!"

Lyara hardly heard him as she looked down to her body seeing strands of wispy silver energy floating away from her scales.

"Are you alright?" The dragon asked seeming to finally notice the strange particles that were drifting around the dragoness. "Hey." He said moving in front of Lyara so that she could see him through blurred eyes. "Can you hear me?" He asked.

Lyara smiled at the dragon, and to him it was a face of perfect calm. "I can hear you." She said sweetly.

"Good, I think that we need to…" The dragon trailed off as he watched Lyara fall to the ground her smile never fading.

"You passed out?" Taelas asked.

"A side effect of using the attack." Lyara explained. "While I lived in convexity none of us ever ran out of energy, but once we came here we lost that advantage. I simply failed to realize this and instead put all move my strength into my attack."

"We don't care about your energy." Aria said, drawing a strange look from the silver dragoness. "What about this red dragon?" She asked with in a suggestive tone.

"What did he look like?" Syra asked catching on to Aria's question.

Lyara blushed slightly at the thought. "He was…nice." She said thinking for a moment before finishing her sentence. "He actually reminds me a little of Taelas." She added, making all of the dragons stare at the purple drake.

"What? I'm nice." He said going along with what Lyara said, and putting the silver dragoness at ease for the moment.

"As I was saying I passed out." Lyara said, bringing sad looks from both Aria and Syra as they wanted to talk more about the topic.

"Hey, wake up." Lyara heard a faint voice say.

The dragoness sat upright in the blink of an eye. Her teeth were bared, as she expected a fight, for reasons that she couldn't even explain.

"Relax." She heard the voice say off to the side. Lyara turned to see the same red dragon from before sitting next to her. The dragoness quickly flipped over and stood up, as if she was embarrassed for showing any weakness.

"What's wrong?" The crimson scaled drake asked peering at her with curious eyes.

"Who are you?" Lyara asked looking around the dimly lit stone room. "Where am I?"

"I told you relax." The dragon said again. "You've been through a lot. My name is Valin, you are in Salence." Lyara stared at the dragon, as if she didn't comprehend what he had said. "Are you alright?" The dragon asked.

"Fine, just…tired." The dragoness sighed. "What happened to me?" She asked slowly laying back down, weariness suddenly setting in.

"You were attacked by a wyvern." Valin explained. "In truth you fought better than anyone I've ever seen. No dragon has faced one down and lived to tell the tale."

"A wyvern?" The dragoness asked, ignoring his praise.

"My parents say that they are dragons who lost their souls, turning into twisted visages of their older selves." Valin said cryptically. "In fact I should thank you. That particular one had been terrorizing this village for a long time now."

"Ya, you're welcome." Lyara said losing interest in the conversation as she looked around the room until she found the door. The dragoness quickly stood up heading straight for the opening.

"Are you sure you are okay, something was happening to you after you killed that creature." Valin said following close behind her.

"What happened to me?" Lyara asked turning full around and staring the dragon down, sending chills down his spine.

"These wispy silver lights starting coming out of you, I've never seen anything like it." Valin said fumbling with the words as he tried to figure out a way to describe the occurrence.

Lyara didn't respond, but what Valin described obviously hit her hard. Lyara turned away again, and headed for the door once more. She heard Valin asking her to wait as she exited the building the bright light hitting her eyes. The dragoness' snapped her wings around to block the light until her eyes adjusted. Blinking away tears Lyara slowly lowered her leathery wings to find an unexpected scene.

"The dragons here are kind of celebrating about what you did earlier." Valin said walking up next to her as she gawked at the town center. Dragons were outside everywhere, all of them eating, drinking, and celebrating. It only took a moment for one of them to notice the silver dragoness standing outside the hut, her sterling silver scales gleamed in the sun making her a spectacle that was hard to miss.

"There she is the one who killed Umbra!" One of the dragons shouted, causing an eruption of cheering from the others. The excessive praise made Lyara blush clearly through her silver scales.

As she was still getting her bearings another dragon an adult approached the dragoness blocking out the sun with his massive form. "Young one, I wanted to greet you personally. My name is Arius. I am the leader of this village. Could I ask your name and where you are from?"

"I'm Lyara; I'm from…far away." The silver dragoness responded bowing slightly.

"A secretive one I see." Arius replied making the dragoness stutter for a reply. "It's alright, you owe me nothing, and quite on the contrary I owe you much. Please help yourself to anything that you like and stay as long as you want, one such as yourself deserves to be treated like a hero."

"Thank you." Lyara said bowing again.

"I'll leave you two alone, I ask though that you don't wander to far from town, there are more wyverns nearby." He said leaving with a short turn and disappearing amongst the others of the party.

"Well, it's your party, what do you want to do?" Valin asked.

Lyara looked at the large crowds for a moment before turning to Valin. "Show me around." She said.

"What? Show you around?" The dragon asked confused.

"My home is very different from this place." Lyara said.

"How much different exactly that you want to walk around instead of seeing the party?"

"More than you could ever imagine." Lyara answered, her response only making the red dragon even more curious.

"You are the guest of honor, so then we can do whatever you want." He said shrugging with a slight smile. "Come on, we'll move to the quieter part of town." He said nodding in a direction that was away from the festivities.

The dragons walked in silence for a short while until they reached another section of the small town, and it occurred to Lyara that they were nearly out of the town by then, and they had only gone around a hundred feet.

"These are the houses." Valin said rather plainly. "I'm not much of a tour guide, sorry."

Lyara was hardly listening though as she looked at the buildings in near amazement. Something like this place was foreign to her; she had only seen these things but never experienced them. Civilization in any form was something of pure wonder to her. The dragons at the party before had also struck her interest but she had kept her emotions suppressed.

"Is there anything else to this place?" She asked after a while as she walked in between the buildings and small shops.

"Well, yes I guess there is, it isn't a building though." Valin said.

"Alright then show me." The dragoness said excitedly bouncing around in front of Valin like a child.

"Alright, alright settle down." The dragon said laughing at Lyara's sudden energy. Without waiting any longer the drake led Lyara a short distance out of town to a place that he knew well. They came to a small lake, only a little bigger than a pond. The water was glassy and still reflecting the beautiful nature that was flourishing nearby. Wide branching trees grew around the lake, forming a shady oasis from the drenching sunlight. There were flowers, tall grasses, and little shrubs thickening up the ground sealing the area off from the other wilderness.

"Valin this place is…" The dragoness trailed off as she stared at the scene in awe. "Amazing."

"It's one of my favorite things about living here." The red dragon said.

"So you come here of- The dragoness cut herself off giving a small yelp as she stumbled over Valin catching her. Lyara leaned on the dragon's side as she regained herself. She could feel her own weakness still encompassing her body.

"Are you alright?" Valin asked staring at the dragoness.

"I…I think so. I just feel…" The dragoness' sentence trailed away as she slowly forced herself back up.

"You just feel?" Valin asked concerned for her well-being.

"Nothing, but Valin what is that?" The dragoness asked quickly changing the subject away from her injuries. She nodded to smoke that was rising lazily along the skyline in the distance.

"Oh. I imagine that is Zeke." Valin said clearly undisturbed by whatever was over there.

"Who is Zeke?" Lyara asked after a moment as she realized that Valin was not going to tell her of his own accord.

"He is," The dragon paused as he tried to think of the correct words. "He is a very old and a lot of a mystery."

"Sounds exciting, let's go!" The silver dragoness said suddenly very chipper her curiosity outweighing her pain.

"What? No we can't go over there, Zeke doesn't like to be bothered, and, and he's strong he'll attack us!" Valin argued.

"Oh come on I'm injured, and you don't see me backing down." The dragoness said chuckling as she walked wobbly towards the distant smoke.

"Lyara." Valin said grabbing the dragoness shoulder and forcing her to stop. "Zeke was an elder, now he is considered a seer. Only the most desperate of people go to him, and most of them never return. Stories say that you could hear dragons screaming in the middle of the night when they went to see him. If any came back alive they were never the same."

"And that scares you?" Lyara asked taking the whole argument lightly.

"Yes, quite frankly it does." Valin said seriously.

"Well, have a sense of adventure then." Lyara said continuing along and forcing Valin to follow after her.

"Lyara-

"No, either come with me or go back." Lyara said finality clear in her voice. Valin cursed as he watched Lyara walking away, and he had to walk with her just to continue talking with her.

"I can't in good conscience let you go alone, I would regret it." The red dragon explained as he caught up.

"So you are coming with me then?" Lyara asked.

"Of course." Valin sighed clearly upset by the situation.

"Well good, now we just have to work on that attitude." Lyara said smiling.

"How can you be taking this so lightly?" Valin asked, the mere mention of Zeke struck fear in everyone in Salence. Lyara however was passing him off as a child's fairy tale.

"Don't forget who strong I am." Lyara argued.

"Lyara you would have to be some sort of god just to stand up to Zeke." Valin said and the irony of the statement made Lyara burst into laughter.

"What?" The crimson dragon asked staring at her as if she was insane.

"Nothing." Lyara said realizing that she would have to explain herself if she continued on in the same manner. "It's just that I'm finding it funny how worried you are." The dragoness paused leaving a gap of silence. "Just leave those feelings behind, we have each other, between the two of us this Zeke won't pose any threat."

Valin nodded and after that there wasn't much conversation as they slowly approached the hut in the distance. As they began to draw closer and closer to the small building Valin spoke up once more.

"Why did you want to come here again?" He asked he voice only a little more than a whisper.

"Because you made it sound so interesting." Lyara replied her eyes still focused on the hut.

"So if I made leaving sound interesting would you leave?" He asked.

"Remember what we discussed." Lyara answered, and Valin merely nodded in defeat.

The two dragons now stood only a few feet from the entrance to the hut, which from a distance had appeared small, but now that they were close they found that it was much larger with enough room for a few adult dragons to live in.

"Why have you come here?" A voice asked from behind them, sending shivers down both of the younger dragon's spines. The two turned in surprise to find a large black dragon standing before them. His appearance alone was intimidating. He was bulky for an adult; his muscles were tense even as he stood at a relaxed position. His eyes were a vibrant violet, and they seemed to shimmer in the waning daylight. The dragon's horns bent and curved at seemingly awkward angles so that the tips of the bones jutted out near to his mouth.

The dragon stared at them as the two didn't move or respond. With a massive gust of wind the dragon spread his wings wide and roared furiously.

"Why have you come here?" He bellowed, his voice carrying across the mountains in the distance.

Valin seemed traumatized by the intimidating dragon; Lyara on the other hand was keeping her emotion hidden.

"You!" Zeke said rearing his head down so that he was inches from Valin, and the red dragon could feel his warm breathe upon his face. "Do you wish death upon yourself?"

"N-n-no" The dragon stammered.

"Then leave, you are in luck that I'm feeling merciful today, perhaps I'll just take a horn, or a wing." Zeke said showing his razor sharp teeth menacingly. "Or maybe a talon, I don't have many of those."

The red dragons scales paled as he stood as still as a statue. "Lyara lets go." He croaked as Zeke's eyes pierced through him. Nearly before he could get the words out the black dragon turned to face Lyara, although he found a much more confident dragoness.

"And you…" Zeke said slowly.

"What of me?" Lyara asked innocently.

"Do you not fear your own demise?" The onyx dragon asked genuinely curious, for every other dragon that he had met had run scared from him.

"I might, but there is no immediate threat to me." Lyara said simply.

"Do you mock me?" Zeke asked pulling back.

"Lyara come on we are going, no more arguments." Valin said pulling as her with a paw. Lyara pushed the dragon's claws away with no more effort than if she were shooing a fly.

"I think that all of this is just a ruse." Lyara said, her smug tone making Zeke's anger grow.

"I could kill you right now." He hissed as he lurched forward grasping the dragoness by the neck and lifting her up. Zeke stared at the squirming silver dragoness for a moment, as if he had entered some sort of trance. Lyara stared back at him as she tried to break free, in a feeble attempt.

"Let her go!" Valin yelled snapping the black dragon from his trance as he spat fire searing Zeke's leg. The black dragon didn't seem to notice his attack and instead stared at Lyara with intrigue.

"You aren't what you seem." Zeke snickered, making the dragoness' blood run cold.

"What do you mean?" Lyara chocked as she tried to act innocent.

"Don't toy with me!" Zeke screamed as he flung the dragoness down, her bones creaking as she hit the ground.

"Stop, what are you talking about?" Valin yelled trying to understand the situation.

"You don't know?" Zeke asked cackling. "You didn't tell him, he has a right to know what you are." He said turning to Lyara who was breathing heavily on the ground, as she tried to rise.

"Tell me!" Valin yelled now more curious than worried about the intimidating dragon.

"She is a goddess you imbecile, one full of incredible power. Although, it is fading." Zeke said with a mischievous grin.

Valin stared at Lyara in wonder as she slowly got back up. Shaking away her dizziness the dragoness gathered some of her energy, and fired it like a cannon knocking Zeke away, despite his massive size he still became airborne as he tumbled away. The dragoness felt her body go numb from the sudden loss of strength and her vision flashed for a moment before she mentally forbid herself from passing out.

"Valin run now!" Lyara screamed as she sprinted away from the monstrous dragon. Valin hardly thought about what he was doing before he was chasing after the silver goddess, his mind was going a million directions at once but the one thing he did know was that he couldn't stay there.

"You will be back goddess, in time!" They heard Zeke call out ominously from behind them. Lyara's wings burst open as she took to the air glancing behind her to check and see if they were being chased. To her surprise they saw that Zeke was standing next to his home unmoving, only staring at them, as he seemed to be in another trance.

The dragon's words rang clear in her mind though, but Lyara could not understand why he would ever expect them to return. The two flew for a few minutes until they were near to the outskirts of Salence, and could hear the cheers and laughter of the other dragons. Landing lightly on the ground Valin immediately turned to Lyara.

"What was that all about?" Valin asked and Lyara couldn't tell if he was scared or angry at this point.

"Specifically?" Lyara asked not knowing where to start.

"How about the goddess part." Valin answered.

Lyara sighed, as she thought of the best way to tell him.

"Aren't you going to tell us how he took it?" Aria asked as the dragoness abruptly stopped the story.

Lyara yawned as sleepiness began to set in. Her tired out state was not helping the situation any. Nodding off from her fatigue the dragoness' head tilted as she rested on Taelas' side, the purple dragon staring at her with raised eyebrows all the while.

"Lyara!" Aria said raising her voice, making the dragoness rise back up and look around quickly.

"Is it past your bedtime?" Aria asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry what did you ask?" The silver dragoness said seemingly embarrassed by the whole situation.

"What happened with Valin, did he believe you?" The dragoness asked.

"Valin was skeptical, but he had seen me kill the wyvern, and he took every word out of Zeke's mouth seriously. He believed me."

"Was he scared, or angry at you for lying?" Ivarik asked.

"Yes and no. He wasn't happy, but luckily he was very civil about it all. He understood the situation I was in and was more than willing to help."

"So what happened next?" Taelas asked.

"It's a long story can't I finish it later?" Lyara asked looking up at the dragon as she yawned widely.

"I'd rather you finish it now." Taelas said gently but with an underlying firmness in his voice.

"Alright fine, I'll skip ahead about a week, nothing really happened in that time, I was simply adjusting to life in Salence, Valin was always at my side and everything seemed like it was going to be great. I couldn't have been more wrong about that."

"Lyara are you doing alright?" Valin asked staring looking back at the dragoness who was gradually falling behind once more.

"Ya, I'm…okay." She said through heavy breaths.

"I doubt that." Valin said turning around so that he could walk next to her.

"Well, I don't know what's happening Valin." Lyara sighed as she trudged along.

"But you're a-

"Goddess yes I know." Lyara said interrupting him as he snickered. Ever since he had learned of her true nature he had constantly brought it up whenever he could, of course he was only playing.

"Can gods even get sick?" Valin asked. "Also if so please don't give it to me." He quickly added.

"Gods can't get sick Valin, we are immortal, I've been alive for centuries." Lyara said.

"You look good for your age." Valin said, as Lyara looked at him, unable to get a read on his tone, but instead just saw his smiling face.

"Alright smartmouth what do you think the problem is?" Lyara asked.

"I was being serious you look really pretty." Valin said plainly. Lyara stared back at the dragon surprised. Despite her centuries of life she had never been told that. Who would have said it to her, no one lived in convexity.

"I…well…" The dragoness stammered not knowing how to reply. Her nervousness made Valin grin all the wider. The dragon stopped only when he heard a rustling in the forests nearby.

Lyara heard the noises too and she moved around Valin to get a better look. The underbrush in the forests wobbled and shook. Whatever was in there was big.

"Wyvern?" Lyara asked instantly thinking back to the large creature that had attacked her before.

"No, it wouldn't be moving through the forests like that." Valin answered his voice more of a whisper as he crouched down getting ready for whatever would come out. Not many creatures in the area would openly challenge a dragon, let alone two, that fact only put the dragons more on edge.

The two didn't have to wait much longer as a bestial roar pierced the air, and a massive creature broke through the outer foliage, knocking away bark and brush as it went. The creature had four legs and a grey mottled hide, like that of a pig. It had small puckish eyes and floppy ears on the side of its body. Small spikes went up its spine like barbs and claws were as large as Lyara's head. The most prominent feature however was the creature's massive teeth, which were hulking fangs lining the beast's mouth, they were probably strong enough and big enough to swallow a dragon whole.

Lyara cursed as the creature roared again, before unleashing a torrent of blazing black energy towards them. Lyara was the first to react. Despite her weakened state she managed to summon enough energy to create a light like barrier before them. The half dome looked like hundreds of little hexagons that compacted together to stop the black energy. However as weak as she was the shield slowly faded, blocking most all of the attack, but when the shield broke small wisps of energy cut through. One sliced Lyara making her cringe in pain. Looking to the spot she had been hit she watched as all of her scales in that small section dulled, as if they had died.

"What was that?" Valin asked as he looked around at what had been a normal field. The area around them, that had not been protected, looked as though it had died, as if it were a wasteland there.

"It's a creature of death, we call them Xil." Lyara answered. "We need to kill it now, it shouldn't be here anyway."

"What do you mean it shouldn't be here?" Valin asked as he sprinted forward hoping to get in a quick attack on the fiend.

"I mean it's from convexity! Don't let it touch you with that black energy, you'll die!" Lyara yelled back as she began to circle around the Xil.

"Great." Valin groaned as he spat a ball of fire at the creature striking its side and causing it to flinch and writhe from the burn. Following up the attack Valin charged forward grappling onto the Xil's back and digging into it with sharp claws.

As the Xil jumped and bucked trying to throw Valin from its back Lyara circled round. Watching for a moment as the red dragon clung tightly onto the beast Lyara focused her mind.

Gathering energy into her body the dragoness yelled to the crimson dragon. "Valin let go now!" Without waiting, for she couldn't keep her power contained, the dragoness burst forward like a bullet from a gun.

Lyara smashed into the Xil's side with a sickening crunch, as the inter-dimensional beast fell to its side whining in pain from cracked ribs and slight internal bleeding. Lyara got back up to all fours and stared at the creature as Valin came up beside her.

"Are you alright?" The dragoness asked.

"I'm fine wha- The dragon was interrupted as Lyara fell onto his side. "Maybe I should be asking you if you're okay." He said as the dragoness continued to breathe heavily.

"Put…it…out of…its misery." The dragoness said between breaths as she lay down on the grass resigned to fatigue. Valin only nodded, as he slowly approached the creature, he didn't want it to suddenly attack him. Coming to its head the dragon stared into the creature's sullen features. Its pain and fear were obvious as its eyes darted back and forth before focusing on Valin. The dragon felt a spike of guilt as he raised his bladed tail up slowly. He took a deep breath, and reminded himself that this was for the best, before plunging the blade through the Xil's skull. There was a short cry before the beast fell still and Valin wiped his tail and walked back to Lyara who was still on the ground.

"Thank you for doing that, I'm sure that it wasn't easy, but it was for the best." Lyara said gently as Valin laid down next to her.

"Never mind that, it was for the best." Valin replied. "Why was it here though, if it was supposed to be in convexity."

"I don't know." Lyara answered meekly.

"Alright then we need to at least do something about you." Valin said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are getting weaker."

"Is that a fact?" The dragoness asked, her voice edged with slight anger, as she took the saying more as an insult than anything else.

"That isn't what I meant." Valin said.

"But it is true." A voice said from behind them. Valin turned jumping up and readying himself, he had already had too many surprises for one day. What he found gave him an uneasy feeling as he stared at two dragons, one black, and the other white.

"You aren't weak Lyara, you are dying." Arum said bluntly.

"What do you mean? And how did you find us?" The dragoness said standing up.

"We mean that without convexity we are all dying, gods are not meant to go beyond their plane." Sol explained.

"By that measure you are both being afflicted as well." Lyara argued.

"We are being affected, the only difference being that we have not exerted ourselves unlike you, so the process has been slowed." Arum explained.

"You mean I'll die?" Lyara asked afraid of the answer.

"Lyara hold on, you aren't going to die, and who are these two anyway?" Valin asked in confusion as he eyed Sol and Arum warily.

"Found yourself a friend have you?" Arum asked looking at Valin and baring his teeth. "I don't like him."

"You won't touch him Arum." Lyara said but her words were weak, and without any real threat. "Valin, these are my brothers, you met Arum." She said pointing to the black dragon. "And quieter one is Sol."

"Your brothers?" Valin asked astounded. "I thought you said that no one lived in convexity.

"I said almost no one else; they are the only other ones there that aren't monsters." Lyara clarified. "Although they might as well be."

"You would watch your tongue Lyara, in that state we could kill you, and may I remind you that we are not feeling very fond of you at the moment." Arum growled angrily.

"Please, try to fight me, you'll find that I'm more than capable." Lyara said boisterously, her words being a bluff of course.

"Aren't you supposed to be family?" Valin asked, breaking up the tension. "Shouldn't you love each other?"

"Perhaps our dear sister didn't tell you mortal." Sol said finally speaking up. "We share no true blood, Lyara was cast upon us."

"I was charged with you." Lyara hissed. "You both had your chance to rule convexity and you failed. I was tasked with the challenge of picking up the pieces."

"And you truly showed that you were up to the task when you ran back to this world." Arum retorted.

"What do you mean back?" Lyara asked, but the black dragon ignored her, leaving her to ponder the curious turn of phrase.

"We need to go back to convexity before we all die here, the air is like poison, can you not feel it?" Sol asked.

"No, I won't go back; I like it here, even if it does kill me!" The dragoness cried.

"Lyara you…" Valin trailed off as the silver dragoness stared at him wide-eyed, he could see tears on the brim of her eye lids.

"If you care so much about this place then you will at least save it." Sol argued.

"What do you mean?" Lyara asked intrigued as a sudden wave of worry came over her.

"How do you think that creature got here?" Arum asked pointing to the dead Xil. Lyara didn't have a response for him however and his question went unanswered. "It came through the same portal you made, it never closed and creatures have begun to wander through it."

"Then why haven't you both left already, neither of you want to be here." Lyara asked, as she was skeptical about the story.

"We tried, believe me." Sol said. "You see the portal seems to be constantly open in convexity, however here it only opens for a moment to let whatever being is using it through. Then it turns back into a ripple keeping anyone from going through."

"So how can I help?" Lyara asked.

"You were the one who made the portal so you might be able to trigger something when you go near it." Arum explained.

"Fine, for the sake of keeping this place at peace I'll go." Lyara said.

"Shouldn't you be worried about your health first?" Valin asked as he watched the dragoness' sluggish movements. "Whatever you might have to do will probably require energy and that is something you can't afford to lose."

"What would you suggest that I do, nothing can help." Lyara argued.

"Actually, there might be something." Valin said making the silver dragoness raise a scaly brow. "You remember Zeke right?"

"How could I forget." The dragoness' said answering Valin's rhetorical question.

"Well, I never told you because I didn't think that it was relevant, but he has been living for longer than anyone knows. When the current elder was a child Zeke was still alive and healthy. Even Arius says that when his parents were young that Zeke was still alive."

"What does that mean? Does he live forever?" Lyara asked.

"We don't know, but the point is that he might know some way to fix your plight." Valin explained. "He knows magic, strong magic."

"What would make him help us though?" Lyara asked.

"He did say that we would come back, maybe this is that time." Valin said.

Lyara stared at the ground as she twiddled the grass between her talons. "It's worth a shot." She said. "If I don't do anything I'll die for sure, at least with Zeke there is about half a chance that I'll live."

"Where did you get that statistic?" Valin asked walking beside the now moving dragoness.

"I'm an optimist." Lyara replied. "Hey you two." She called back to her brothers. "Come with us we have someone to see."

The four made their way back across the fields towards the familiar area that was Zeke's home. Strangely enough as they approached Valin and Lyara could see the massive dragon, waiting for them, as if he had predicted the time of their arrival.

"You have returned goddess, and brought others." Zeke said as the four approached tentatively, Valin and Lyara who were leading the way stood several feet back to give themselves a small sense of security.

"Have you simply told everyone that you are a goddess?" Arum asked angrily.

"Quiet!" Lyara quipped, before turning back around to face Zeke. "They are my brothers." She said shortly.

"Two more gods, although they are very different from you. You are indeed an unusual being." Zeke said smiling as he showed his glaring white fangs.

"We need your help." Lyara said bluntly.

"My help? I am but a humble dragon amongst gods." Zeke said with a mocking bow.

"We know that you aren't just some exile Zeke." Lyara said catching the larger dragon off-guard. The adult quickly looked back up and bent down to stare at Lyara very closely, his eyes seeming to bore through her.

"What do you need?" Zeke asked tentatively.

"We need something that will keep us from dying. You see we are from convexity, and because we aren't in our own dimension our energy is seeping out of our bodies." The dragoness explained.

"Someone of my skill could possibly craft an item to help you." Zeke said as he pondered the query.

"Could you really just like that?" Lyara asked surprised by the positive response.

"I never said it would be easy, but nothing is impossible for one who has been alive for as long as I have." Zeke said. "You see I have spent most of my life perfecting longevity techniques. There is a chance that I could make something for you."

"Wait!" Valin yelled unable to contain himself. "Why are you doing this? The last time we met you tried to kill us, what's the catch?"

"So suspicious. I have my reasons, although I can assure you that they will not affect you. I've heard that there are monsters stalking the wilds nearby, perhaps we shouldn't be wasting time with pointless questions." Zeke said his tone sinister.

"If you want to help us then why did you attack us earlier?" Valin asked.

"Circumstances have changed since then." Zeke replied.

"Forget it Valin, he has his own agenda and we have ours." Lyara said cutting off the dragon's next retort. "Do it make whatever you have to, just do it quick, and make the same thing for my brothers they'll need it too." The dragoness said to a grinning Zeke.

"Lyara you can't do this, it will come back to haunt you." Valin said as Zeke turned and ducked into his home.

"I can't think about that now Valin." Lyara said turning to him. "I can feel myself fading; even now I'm finding it hard to stand up. I'll die if I don't take this chance."

"And what about us? You just resigned our fate to this 'Zeke' as well." Arum said clearly upset with her choices.

"Give yourself a few days and you will feel the same as me." Lyara retorted.

"You cannot order me around!" Arum growled.

"I know what's best for us Arum now I won't hear any more of this!" Lyara screamed as she finally lost her temper. As the dragoness began to reel from exhaustion Arum took his chance, and in an abrupt outburst lurched forward ramming the dragoness with his horns. He didn't care that Lyara was their only way home, or that she could die. She had been lording herself over them for too long. Lyara fell to the ground her vision dark.

"I don't remember what happened after that." Lyara said to the others who were listening intently.

"What? You mean that's how the story ends?" Syra asked upset.

"With all of those cliffhangers and mysterious things happening, you can't just leave it like this!" Aria complained as Lyara denied her the ending that she had been waiting for.

"I didn't mean it like that." The silver dragoness chuckled. "I was knocked out I don't know what transpired while I was asleep." She clarified.

"Oh alright." Aria grinned, her concern fading from her face.

"Are you really that interested in all of this?" Lyara asked in an attempt to sate her own interest.

"Of course I am, you could be a story teller Lyara." The dragoness said enthusiastically.

"I-I suppose I could." The dragoness said pondering the idea.

"Do you have any other stories?" Aria asked curiously.

"I have another story about a time when all of convexity was being destroyed by rampaging creatures and my brothers and I had to stabilize the core of the plane through life-giving means. In short we kept the entire dimension safe while at the same time keeping it from spilling across the other planes of existence, which would have caused a complete breakdown of the multiverse as we know it." The dragoness replied in a monotone voice.

"Really?" Aria asked excitedly as she practically bounced up and down a wide grin on her face. "Wait, are you telling the truth, did that really happen?"

"Maybe we should just let her finish this story first." Taelas interrupted.

"But wait was all of that true? What you just said?" Aria asked desperate for an answer.

"Anyway, like I was saying, I was knocked out by Arum, and I woke up the next morning." Lyara said, leaving Aria's question to fall on deaf ears.

"What happened?" Lyara asked groggily as her eyes cracked open.

"Oh Lyara you're finally up, you slept all night." A voice, who she recognized as Valin, said from nearby.

"Define up." The dragoness said. "I don't think that I can move."

"Really you mean it?" Valin asked worried as he stared at the dragoness, as he spoke the dragon poked Lyara hesitantly to see if she could feel anything.

"I can still feel that." She said frowning at him.

"Oh…sorry." Valin said backing away a little embarrassed.

"Can you just tell me what happened?" Lyara asked.

"Arum knocked you out and Sol and I had to calm him down. I regret to say that Sol did most of the work, your brothers are really strong." Valin explained.

"You cannot compete with gods Valin, it's alright though, I'm just glad that you didn't get hurt." Lyara said.

There was an awkward pause between the two as Valin tried to decipher if that had any meaning behind it.

"A-anyway what happened after that?" Lyara asked trying to quickly change the subject.

"We calmed Arum down and brought you inside and you slept until now, its morning." Valin said.

"What about Zeke did he finish with the talismans?"

"Not that I know of but I think he worked through the night so he may be done soon."

"Correction, I am done." Zeke said appearing across the room.

"What you're done?" Valin asked hardly believing him.

"After thinking about it, the problem was rather simple. You're bodies are dying because they can't sustain themselves in this universe. Therefore I just need to make you a lifeline." Zeke explained.

"And you did that?" Valin asked.

"Yes, a little impatient aren't you? I finished the talismans last night." Zeke said dully.

"And you didn't tell us?" Valin growled angrily.

"I felt that I should make things suspenseful." Zeke said.

"She could've died!" Valin yelled standing up, fire falling from his maw, as his anger grew.

"And I'll let that happen if you don't shut up!" Zeke said his own anger flaring up. The younger dragon went silent at the threat. He still feared Zeke more than anything else.

"Well, can you not help me now?" Lyara asked watching the black dragon.

"I can, I will go and get the talismans, wait here." Zeke said as he turned around.

"I don't have much of a choice." Lyara said as she watched him go.

The dragon returned mere moments later, Sol and Arum by his side. He stopped in front of Lyara and lay down the four small talismans on a small cloth. They seemed more like crystals than rocks, with shiny metallic surfaces; they shined amongst the drab atmosphere of the hut. Zeke picked up the first small stone between his talons. This one was white and symmetrical like a perfect diamond, hung by a silver chain. Zeke took the necklace, and laced it around Sol's neck. The amulet hung for only a moment before it gleamed brightly just before sinking into Sol's scales and disappearing entirely.

"Tingly." Sol said taking a deep breathe. "But refreshing." He said sharply a sudden burst of blinding light flashing through the room. "My thanks seer." He said with a short bow before he exited the hut.

Zeke nodded to the white dragon, before turning back to the talismans. "Arum take this." He said picking up yet another stone, which was black as night and unlike Sol's amulet the stone, looked garish and broken. Arum accepted the rough stone, and the same events transpired. With a grunt the dragon left the hut as well.

"Not the most grateful dragon." Zeke snorted as he turned back to his talismans.

"I apologize." Lyara said, a weak gesture but it was better than nothing.

"You cannot apologize for him, nor is it your place." Zeke said as he fiddled with the talismans, finally reaching for white one that was akin to Sol's talisman.

"Zeke why are there two talismans left? Did you make an extra?" The silver dragoness asked trying to sate her curiosity.

"No, on the contrary they are both for you young one." Zeke explained.

"What do you mean, why do I need two of them?" Lyara asked curiously.

"You need two because unlike you brothers you are very special." Zeke said. Seeing the dragoness' confused face he sighed. "I examined all of you while I was making these and while I only found one source of power coming from the other two, you had two. Therefore you need two sealing talismans and not one."

"Why would I be different from them?" Lyara asked although the question was more rhetorical than anything, as she knew that neither of them would have the answer.

"You know more about yourself than I." Zeke said meekly as he placed the first amulet around Lyara's neck. The dragoness felt a fuzzy tingling sensation as the amulet faded into her body. Some of her strength returned, but much less than what she was expecting. Perhaps she was simply expecting too much from the magical items she thought as Zeke picked up the second talisman, this one darker and garish looking. Placing the amulet around her neck just as the other was it too disappeared. This time however Lyara gasped in surprise as a burst of energy flowed through her lithe form. The air around her crackled with energy as she slowly stood up feeling her new returned strength.

"How do you feel?" Valin asked.

"Rejuvenated." Lyara responded with a smile as she looked to him. Valin smiled back happy to see her strength returning. Then in a split second he noticed the dragoness' eyes, normally a deep crimson, flashed black, they changed only for a second before turning back, but nonetheless it made Valin gawk.

"What's wrong?" Lyara asked as she couldn't see what had happened.

"Your eyes, they just changed color, and then switched back." Valin explained. Hearing this Lyara looked to Zeke who shrugged in response.

"Your body is regaining its strength if I had to guess it was just some power fluctuation, nothing to be worried about." He said nonchalantly.

"Let's hope so." Lyara responded an edge to her tone.

"Now perhaps you should hold up your end of the bargain and drive those creatures back through and into your own dimension." Zeke said. "That was the reason I was helping you."

"You are right it's time now. Thank you Zeke, you turned out to be not as bad as I thought you would." Lyara said giving a little grin.

"I'll take that as a compliment girl now go." Zeke said the faint hint of a smile tugging at his mouth. The two bowed once more before leaving the hut and meeting Sol and Arum outside.

"Now that we are all bandaged up I believe that we have some work to do." Sol said.

"It will be an easy fight now; I can probably handle it by myself if you both want to sit this one out." Arum proclaimed boastfully.

"We won't sit out, Arum, but you are right, this will take only a second now." Lyara said. "Kill whatever creatures that you see, then we will deal with the portal."

The two nodded and took to the air quickly, before Lyara followed them however she looked over to Valin who was still beside her. "Valin." She started grabbing his attention. "Valin thank you for standing by me through all of this, you have no idea how much I appreciate it."

"It was nothing." The dragon scoffed.

"That being said, I want you to listen to what I say now. When this fight starts, do not enter the battle. Believe me if you do you will only get hurt, as these aren't your average creatures. I promise that nothing will happen to us, but I couldn't guarantee your safety if you tried to fight."

"You're sure?" He asked hesitantly.

"I am, please I am not trying to insult you, it's just that. I don't want to see you hurt." Lyara stammered

"What if I don't want to see you hurt either? I feel it is my duty to take care of you."

"Please Valin, you, take care of me? I am a goddess and capa- Valin stopped her, placing his lips onto hers. The kiss was passionate, but it only lasted for a moment, leaving Lyara shocked and stunned as she blinked a few times.

"Come on, we don't want to lose track of your brothers." Valin said with a childish grin before he took to the air. Lyara still in shock smiled to herself as she could feel her scales flushing. Everything was going to work out she thought as she too jumped into the sky.

The four made their way back across the mildly familiar landscape. It wasn't long before they came to the place that Lyara remembered well. The portal that had brought them to this world was now surrounded by monsters, those of which Lyara, Sol, and Arum could name individually. Valin however was surprised, even traumatized at the wide assortment of varying and abnormally shaped creatures that had gathered. They struck fear into his heart as he stared at them and a small portion of his mind was glad that he would not have to face them. The red dragon turned to find Lyara who was now flapping her wings to stay aloft next to her brothers.

"Would you both like to thin the crowd before I move in?" Lyara asked, getting a resulting nod from her brothers, and a sinister smile from Arum, who would no doubt enjoy the slaughter. Lyara didn't like the idea, but she knew it was necessary, most all of the creatures below were aggressive, and would harm anything they saw, dragons included, if they allowed them to roam free they would cause chaos. "Three swift attacks should do it." The dragoness reminded. "No need to overdo it."

Neither dragon responded as they were already concentrating. An attack of this volume could not simply be conjured, it instead required time, and so Lyara too began to focus herself as well, and muster her power. The dragoness, her eyes closed could only hear the destruction that ensued. Some ultimate attack that Sol and Arum were performing. She thought it impossible, judging by the cries and explosions, which any of the creatures had survived. That however didn't matter, she would still perform her attack, she had to be sure that they were all wiped out.

Feeling the air around her already thick with her energy, the dragoness' eyes snapped open, her wings ceased their endless beat, and Lyara fell from the sky. Like a silver bullet she dropped out of orbit, and down to the ground, her body moving so quickly that Valin could hardly follow the movement. With a small flip, more for finesse than anything, the dragoness crashed into the ground landing on all fours, cracking the ground beneath her as if it were glass. A sudden burst of energy exploded from the dragoness, forming a dome around her, which was at least a two-hundred foot radius. The black dome swirled like ink, Lyara nowhere to be seen as she stood in the center of it. Valin began to note a screeching sound almost like a high pitched whistle. It grew louder and louder as time passed, until the point where the dragon thought that his ears would bleed.

Then all at once the black energy and the noise ceased to exist ending in the sound of a massive crack as if lightning had struck mere inches from them. Valin after blinking a few times looked down, making his jaw drop in surprise. Where the blackness had once been was now a circular wasteland, a desolate cracked slab of dirt, which had become void of any and all life. In the center of it stood Lyara, as still as the barren terrain. Small glistening silver particles swirled around her and the area, the only remnants of what remained of what had been.

"Lyara what did you do, are you alright?" Valin asked diving down to the dragoness, both Sol and Arum behind him.

"That was something I never like to do, it obliterates everything within the area, I kept the attack to a minimum but it is still devastating." Lyara said looking sadly at the floating particles which seemed to be defying gravity as they fluttered about. "And yes I am okay."

"Don't feel bad though you did what you had to do and that's good; you had me worried for a moment there." He said smiling.

"Little old me?" Lyara asked a small grin tugging at her mouth.

"Lyara." Arum grunted. "I would hate to interrupt, but we need to go back, before more of the monsters come through."

"You need to go back, and I will close the portal behind you." Lyara clarified.

"No, you have to come with us!" Arum growled angrily, already tired of such a debate.

"Why is that Arum, why? You don't want me there anyway!" She argued equally as irritated.

"Because Lyara, we lack the powers to keep convexity in balance, such power was given to you; as much as I hate to admit it we need you." Arum explained as he tried to cool his emotions.

"We can settle this after I close the portal." Lyara said walking away from the three and towards the now swirling dimensional tear.

"Once it starts to close you will only have a few moments to get through." Lyara said, before she began to mumble strange phrases, which sounded only vaguely familiar to Sol and Arum. The others stood in silence as the dragoness completed her incantation and then the portal began to shiver in the air as it opened up before it began to slowly shut once more.

"Go now!" Lyara yelled.

"You are coming with us!" Arum yelled, his right claw suddenly bursting into flames. He reached out quicker than light his paw sinking through Lyara's scales, as if he where an apparition.

Lyara gasped and coughed, as she felt her body grow cold and her strength drain. The dragoness held back a scream of agony as Arum wrench his claw back out, pulling with it the two talismans that Zeke had given her. Lyara fell to the ground in front of him still reeling from the massive loss of energy.

"It was a simple spell that Zeke cast on these talismans to hide them from others. To make them sink into our skin for protection, one that can easily be overcome by the right dragon." Arum said, hanging the necklaces around his own neck. They did not sink in however, for they were not attuned to his body.

"Sol grab her, we are taking her back to convexity, whether she likes it or not." Arum said nodding to the white dragon, who moved to the task.

"You can't just take her!" Valin yelled charging forward. His attempt, though valiant, was easy counter act as Arum rolled out of the way before lunging back colliding with the fire dragon and sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Don't hurt him! He didn't do anything to you!" Lyara screamed, tears coming to her eyes as all that was happening was proving to be too much for her senses.

"Stay there, and you maybe I won't kill you." Arum sneered as Valin stood back up.

Arum turned his back to watch Sol pick up Lyara and maneuver her onto his back. With the black dragon's attention caught, Valin took his chance. Against his own better judgment he leapt forward hoping to pounce on Arum, and subdue him, maybe if he was lucky even kill him. He knew it was dangerous but he could not simply stand by.

Closing in on the dragon, Valin felt himself stop suddenly. Hanging in midair the red dragon felt numbness begin to spread through his body. Looking down he found Arum's tail piercing his chest, the blade sunk deep into his flesh.

"I told you to stay put." Arum said not even facing the dragon as he spoke. "A foolish choice to throw your life away mortal. Death is all you will know now." Arum said as he flicked the dragon to the ground where he lay. Unable to move as Valin watched as Lyara being carried away.

The dragoness cried out in rage and sorrow as she watched Valin lie in the dirt, is life blood dripping out. She tried to move, tried to fight, but found that she could not, so she sobbed uncontrollably as the world and Valin faded from view, the portal carrying her and her brothers back to their own bleak existence.

As soon as the three came out of the portal and down onto solid ground the hole closed leaving them in the silence of their home. Lyara immediately jumped up her power replenished as if it had never left her.

"You will both pay dearly, for what you have done today." She said grimly as she wrenched her necklaces back off of Arum, putting them back on so that they disappeared once more. Tears were still running from her eyes as she spoke.

"You cannot kill us, nor really harm us, not here." Sol said.

"No your punishment will be far worse." Lyara said darkly striking fear into the two brothers. "You have kept me here trapped, and cut off from the world I wish to be a part of. Imprisonment is what you have done."

"Do not be brash Lyara!" Arum said trying to calm her down.

"On the contrary this is rational, an eye for an eye." The dragoness laughed, before quickly mouthing a few words, the action came so quickly that neither of the two could stop her. Before they could say anything Sol and Arum felt their paws become harder, looking down they noted that the stone floor seemed to be crawling up, and encasing them.

"What are you doing Lyara?" Sol screamed.

"You have kept me here in imprisonment, and so now, I shall return the gesture. You will both be encased here unless summoned by outside forces to deal with a problem." Lyara explained. "But do not fret, I will be joining you." The dragoness said as her own body began to turn to stone. "I have no desire to be here, and so I shall not suffer in this place, be happy that I have not decided to kill you both this day, you deserve it surely, but I find that a lifetime of imprisonment will be more painful than death." Lyara said with a smile as the stone fully took her over.

"And that was the last thing that I remember, until I came here." Lyara said abruptly ending the story. Expecting some sort of response the dragoness got none to her surprise, as the rest of the dragons tried to sort through the information. "That's all." She said to clarify the end of the story.

"Lyara, I'm so sorry." Aria said breaking the silence. "To have endured all of that, takes a lot of strength.

"It's alright." Lyara said although she could hardly say the words without her voice breaking. "There was a reason that I was telling you that story, not just because it related to Salence."

"What was that?" Taelas asked, looking down at the dragoness who was leaning on his side.

"The talismans that Zeke gave to us. You all remember them don't you?" Lyara asked receiving nods from all of the dragons around her.

"You got yours back from Arum right before…" Syra trailed off not wanting to mention the unfortunate turn of events.

"Yes, but as Taelas saw when I had my confrontation with Sol and Arum, I lost them again. Those two must have done something, and cast them off." Lyara explained.

Ivarik was the quickest to put the pieces together as he spoke up. "But if you lost them, and you are here in our world then that means…"

"I am dying." Lyara said plainly.


	12. Chapter 12

The Gods Of Convexity Page 16

**A/N: Sorry this took me a bit, I found it a little hard to write, I don't know why.**

"Are you feeling okay?" Aria asked for the fourth time that morning.

"Yes, I'm doing alright." Lyara responded trying not to let her annoyance show through in her words. Lyara knew that she was only worried, but insistent questions were not going to help, if anything they only made Lyara even more conscious of her fate. Since she had told the others her plight the previous night all of them had acted slightly different, they were quieter now and more serious. Aria had begun to worry as if she thought that the goddess would simply fall dead at any moment something that wasn't completely wrong, as it could happen. Fortunately, the dragoness didn't feel that her impending doom was coming today.

"If you aren't sure I can have Taelas carry you." The dragoness added. At the mention of his name Taelas raised a curious brow.

"No, that's quite alright, we should just focus on getting to Salence." Lyara said with a smile.

"Why do we need to go there, I mean how is Salence going to help?" Ivarik asked saying the question that the others had been thinking.

"I told you that we need to find the talismans so that I can stay alive." Lyara replied.

"I think he means how is going to Salence going to help you find the talismans?" Taelas clarified.

"Oh, I guess I didn't tell you." The dragoness said suddenly feeling silly. "We need to go to Salence to find Zeke." She said.

"You mean the crazy dragon who tried to kill you once?" Syra asked hoping that this was some sort of joke.

"Yes, and for the record he also saved my life." Lyara nodded.

"Why would he still be willing to help or alive for that matter?" Syra asked. "That story happened…how long ago?"

"Around a century ago, if my memory serves correctly." Lyara answered, and seeing the fire dragoness question still standing she continued. "He spent his days learning how to live forever I have little doubt that he is dead. Besides we are old friends he will put us on the right path."

"And he can tell you where your talismans are?" Taelas asked cutting off the fire dragoness before she could make another comment.

"That would be the idea." Lyara answered. "So we need to hurry, I can feel myself getting weaker even now."

"Are you going to be-

"I'll be fine." Lyara said cutting off Aria before she could even finish the question. She gave a little laugh to ease the blue dragoness. "Come on let's just get underway we still have a few days travel."

Hearing this there wasn't much left to discuss. Before long the dragons took to the air again. Lyara had her troubles as her body was slowly degrading, but they managed to go the distance they needed to without any troubles. The days passed with little to no talking as there wasn't much to discuss, they all knew what had to be done and until then there was nothing else that they could speculate about. Conversation about anything else seemed slightly childish with all of the serious events going on around them, so the dragons kept their mouths closed and simply sufficed to think instead.

After a number of days Lyara began to say that the landscapes were beginning to look familiar. However they weren't completely the same. The general terrain remained, but the state in which it stood was something far different. The verdant fields and forests that the goddess had described were all but gone. Replaced with haunted hallows, dead grass, trees, dust, and dirt. A greying landscape that would dull even the brightest of eyes.

"What's happened here?" Lyara asked confused by the sight.

"Didn't you say that this place was gorgeous?" Taelas asked.

"It was. I swear a picture of serenity." The dragoness replied as she brushed some of the barren dirt away with her claws.

"I did hear mom and dad say that something happened here." Aria interjected. "They weren't very specific though, so I don't know what it was."

"It doesn't change anything we still have to find Zeke, and he is close to Salence, which was across this forest the last time that I checked.

"How can you think that he is still alive, living in all of this?" Ivarik asked.

"He wasn't an average dragon." Lyara argued thinking back to her previous arguements.

"Alright fine, let's just fly to him, and get this over with." Taelas said. "The faster we can get to him the sooner he can find your talismans and keep you alive."

"We cannot fly over." Lyara said suddenly drawing all eyes to her. "Remember what happened the first time I came here? This is the same forest with those wyverns in it. They keep their eyes to the sky more than the ground as they are faster in the air. If we fly we could attract their attention, and besides I don't know if I could even make the flight, standing alone is rather tough now."

"That aside, Lyara do you really believe that there are still wyverns in a place as dead as this forest?" Taelas asked.

"This isn't death, at least not death entirely, this is corruption. It's like something from convexity has seeped into the land and changed it."

"Do you think that Sol and Arum were here, could they have something to do with it?" Aria asked.

"Perhaps, considering how large of an area has been affected I highly doubt that it is new, it looks like is has been festering for years now. Either way this sort of transformation has effects on living creatures, it can change them, make them go insane, kill, and even transform into something else if the circumstances are dire enough." The goddess explained.

"Do you mean that we could lose our minds just by standing here?" Aria squeaked.

"It is quite possible and very likely that this place could have effects on all of you, except for Taelas that is. As a purple dragon he is accustomed to convexity, and therefore the land will have no effect on him or I." She said.

"Then we need to move as quickly as possible. Let's go through the forest, we'll take our chances with anything that we find." The purple dragon said.

"Taelas do you really want to go in there?" Syra asked nervously looking at the edge of the forest, which seemed to grow unnaturally dark further inside.

"For her sake, of course I do, I'm not going to let Lyara die, she came her to help us, and we are returning the favor." Taelas explained firmly.

"But what about-

"I swear Syra I won't let anything happen to anyone in there, I'll keep you all safe, and I won't let this corruption affect you." He said with a reassuring smile. In truth he knew that he could probably not do anything to help mental trauma, he just had to hope for the best.

"I-I…"

"Come on, we'll keep you safe." Ivarik said pulling her towards the forest. Looking around in confusion as for what to say and what to do Syra resigned to being dragged along as though she were a child, Ivarik leading the way.

The others followed timidly at first each of them unsure about what they would actually find in the dark place. Even as they began to enter the place they could feel some dark foreboding force creeping up all around them, as if it were in the air itself. There were creaks and strange noises coming from all around them, making each of the dragons jump, their eyes darting from side to side trying to spot any activity.

"Lyara how big is this forest?" Taelas asked quietly, although his voice unintentionally carried through the lifeless forest. Hearing the sound the entire group stopped their quick trot until it faded off into the distance.

"It is rather large, and it has been a long time since I was here last. I don't know what to tell you." She answered her own voice carrying, but not nearly as far as Taelas'.

"Do you think that we can even cross it?" Taelas asked, as they started to move once more. "If not I would rather risk flying over this place."

"We can cross it, I do know that much, but come on, we need to be silent, keep talking and we will attract everything in the forest." Taelas nodded at the dragoness before he continued along staying in the back of the group, to watch for anything that might try to sneak up behind them.

The small group continued along at an ever quickening pace, covering ground as quickly as they could. Without even knowing it they were moving quick enough to be just short of running, none of them complained however as the forest was eerie enough to unnerve even Taelas and Lyara.

There was utter silence except for the dragon's steps for what must have gone on for at least an hour. Each of the dragons were on alert surveying their surroundings as they went, to focused to talk to each other, and too afraid of their voices calling everything in the vicinity.

"Did you hear that?" Taelas asked hearing a snap in the forest not far from his right. His head spun to the spot, the others following his gaze, but they found nothing.

"You're just hearing things Taelas, there isn't anything here. If there was it would have struck by now." Aria replied, trying to laugh it off but the noise sounded hollow.

"I heard something I swear." Taelas said as they started to move once again, his eyes still trained on the spot.

"Don't worry about it we just need to get through here." Lyara said tugging on his for-leg as she leaned in closer to him, her own worry catching up to her. She wouldn't acknowledge it, but she had heard something too, but it would do them no good to stop, and talk it over more, they had to keep moving.

"It sounded like clicking." Taelas whispered, this time doing a successful job of keeping his voice hidden as he spoke to Lyara.

"There are many things that could inhabit this forest Taelas. Whatever it might have been, if anything at all, it was dangerous and that is all that you need to know. Now come on let's continue."

As the group continued to make their way through the thick dead looking tree trunks there was a tense air about them. Taelas' eyes darted back and forth constantly looking for something that moved in the silent and still wilderness around him, he could feel eyes on him, silent creatures waiting in the dark, waiting to end his life.

"Can none of you feel this?" Taelas asked wondering if he was the only one reacting to the area perhaps Lyara was wrong and he could in fact go crazy in here. The others in front of him looked as normal as could be, as if they were walking down one of Warfang's well-lit streets.

"Ancestors, what are you so scared of?" Ivarik asked not turning around, although he sounded quite irritated. "There isn't anything here, aren't you supposed to be the great purple dragon, one with legendary courage and strength?"

"I just think that there is more here than-

The dragon was cut off as a bloodcurdling roar cut through the forests, setting the dragon on edge as he crouched into a ready position. Lyara had heard the noise as well, but didn't react to it at all, she stood perfectly still her scales quivering slightly at the power behind the sound.

"That, that is a perfect example!" Taelas growled.

"What is?" Syra asked.

"What is? That roar just now did you not hear it?" Taelas asked utterly astonished by the question.

"Are you sure that this place doesn't affect purple dragon's Lyara, because I think my brother is losing it." Aria said with a sigh as she continued along.

"I am sure, he is simply edgy." The dragoness replied in a blank tone.

"I'm not crazy!" Taelas argued hotly. As he spoke the forest around them seemed to come alive with noise, hisses and wet crunching sounds from all directions. "Do you hear that? Come on we have to go!" Taelas said firmly as the noise threatened to drown out his voice.

"Why are you talking so loud it's dead silent here and your voice is probably carrying for miles." Ivarik said, still continuing on his way as if anything the dragon said could be disregarded as nonsense.

Before the violet drake could put up a counter argument he heard more stabbing, and picking sounds as he noted a massive furry crimson spider crawl around one of the bigger tree trunks, its seemingly endless eyes all focusing on the group. Its coat made it easy to see, something that Taelas thought was a good thing, that was until he looked around and noted tens if not hundreds of red dots around the area. How he had not noticed them before astounded him. Taelas stood gawking at it for a moment as its black orbs focused on Aria, letting out a chilling cry it leapt from the tree its eight massive legs aimed for the still unsuspecting dragoness.

Taelas didn't have time to yell anything; he could only act as he leapt forward catching the giant bug in its abdomen. He pressed against its soft underbelly hearing cracking of the creatures still fragile bones. Despite its massive size the creature still did not hold any formidable defense. Taelas jumped back from the creature as it writhed about on the ground, its legs flailing up and down as it tried to flip itself back over. However its efforts were to no avail, and as it hissed angrily Taelas spat a glob of fire landing on the creature, the flames spreading rapidly cooking it as it screeched in pain. Moments later its legs curled up into a ball and the creature fell silent.

"Do you believe me now when I tell you that there are things in this place trying to kill us?" The purple dragon quickly fell silent after his outburst. He continued to stare in surprise however to note his friends, Lyara excluded were all staring at him as though he had come from nowhere. On closer inspection he saw that their eyes were black like the spiders had been no pupils or iris' simply large black orbs that seemed to gaze through him.

"What is wrong with you all?" Taelas asked as Lyara quickly worked her way up in front of them to stand by Taelas' side. Staring back at them she gasped at the revelation.

"What have you done to my brother?" Aria asked angrily.

"What do you mean? I am your brother." Taelas said confused. While he spoke he could hear more of the spiders wrapping themselves around trees, and working closer to them, they didn't have time for this. The one he had killed must have called others just before it died. The dragon cursed to himself as he awaited a response from Aria.

"You took him away, you stole him from us! Give him back!" She yelled leaping forward, and tackling Taelas biting into his scales with her razor sharp teeth.

"Aria what are you doing?" The dragon yelled in pain as he wrenched the dragoness away and tossed her to the side. He purposely didn't strike back as it was still his sister no matter what was happening.

"She can't understand a word you are saying." Lyara said quickly as she pulled the dragon up. "Everything in her head is skewed right now; the same goes for Syra and Ivarik. This place is corrupting their heads making them see hallucinations. That's why none of them could hear the beasts closing in around us, and they thought that you were going crazy."

"We have to help them." Taelas growled in frustration as he could still hear the multi-legged creatures from the forest edging in all around them, the sounds had slowly slightly as if the creatures were watching, taking interest in the purple dragon's distress.

"We can't not here at least. If we can get out of the forest, and out of this corrupted land they could change back though.

"Then let's hurry, I don't want any of to end up as dinner for the spiders." Taelas said before turning back to his sister who was trying to circle around him silently. Taelas noted the other two who had also moved up, and where growling with anger, they must be seeing the same thing that she was. "Aria, if you despise me so much, then why not kill me? I'll give you the chance all you have to do is catch me." Taelas snickered making the dragoness roar as she leapt towards him once more.

Taelas ducked into a roll coming up a few feet away as his sister landed soundly on the ground where he had been. The purple drake gave another small grin before turning and charging off in the opposite direction, Lyara doing her best to keep up with him.

"A fair plan," She said as she ran beside him. "Point of interest though, what if they catch you?" She asked as she sidestepped dodging a small lick of fire that Syra had launched towards her. "Or me?"

"They won't I'll make sure of it." Taelas said. The dragon's eyes suddenly shot open as he heard a crackle. Taelas grasped the ground and darted quickly forward several feet narrowly avoiding a snap of lightning. The ground exploded sending chunks of debris into the air, stabbing at the two as they ran.

"Alright it may not be that easy." He murmured.

"Second point of interest, everything in this forest is coming alive." Lyara said, as calmly as if she were exchanging pleasantries with a friend. "And it's headed our way." She said as a gurgling high pitched screech made its way to their ears.

"We need to move, now!" Taelas said picking up his pace once more.

With an unimaginable stroke of luck Taelas saw only moments later the brightness that could only be the sun, it had been covered by the dying branches of the forest, cut up and blocked out by the corruption. Now as it slowly began to shown the two could see the end of the forest, the trees thinning out as they got closer. The two could hear the other dragons still on their tails, as they had apparently given up trying to attack until they were in much closer range. This would have boded well for the two if their friends hadn't been slowly gaining ground on them. While they seemed to gain speed, so did the other creatures in the forest, but none of it mattered as they all burst from the dead wood and back into the daylight.

As soon as they had reached some sort of safety both of the fleeing dragons felt weight hit them as Ivarik and Aria tackled the two to the ground. The lightning dragon spared no time, charging his energy and unleashing a burst of lightning, point blank onto Taelas' back searing through his scales and making him scream as he felt the electricity course through him. Biting back the pain he pushed off the ground knocking the dragon in the stomach and off to the side. Taking his chance Taelas bashed his head straight into Ivarik's soft stomach making him gasp before falling flat.

Turning to Lyara Taelas saw something that he at first didn't understand. He assumed that Lyara would be able to handle herself. Instead he found that Aria was standing over her tearing at her with thin blade like talons. Lyara was putting up a meager defense, and as Taelas ran to her he understood why, she was still weak, like a child, and at this point any fighting was out question for her.

Trying to do as little real damage as possible the purple dragon jumped into the air hooking around his younger sister, and using his momentum pulled her away, sending the two rolling to the ground. The dragoness being more dazed than he was. Taelas stood up to see the first massive spider crawl out from the forest. The hairy disgusting creatures were at least twice the dragon's size, growing more intimidating as they approached their pincers gnashing up and down in anticipation.

"No time to deal with this now." The purple dragon growled before spitting four massive spheres of fire at the spiders, the elemental barrage exploding singing all of the beasts, either incapacitating or killing them. As their screeches pierced the air Taelas turned back around, having bought himself the time that he had needed.

"Aria get a grip on yourself!" Taelas yelled as he spun back. The purple dragon almost screamed in surprise as he found Syra standing mere inches from him and he reared back slightly. He gave a grunt as he heard a dull thump. Jolting in surprise only a moment later, the dragon slowly looked down to find the dragoness' bladed tail being yanked back out of his chest. He didn't feel it until she pulled the blade out as if his body refused to process pain for that brief period of time.

The purple dragon gasped and groaned as he clutched his chest. The crimson dragoness stood before him a demented smile slowly creeping onto her face, obviously she was proud of her accomplishment. Taelas stared back at her bewildered, but now angry. Despite his rage however his strength was rapidly fading away. Using what he thought to be his last bits of power the dragon's mouth crackled with energy, and Syra's face quickly changed to one of shock, as even in her brainwashed state she knew what was about to happen.

From only several inches away Taelas let the lightning in his mouth fly, the electricity branching out like tree branches as it entangled Syra and shocked her. Taelas watched her sadly as she shook for a moment before falling to the ground, temporarily paralyzed by the excess electricity running through her veins.

"Stay down, for your own good." The dragon coughed as he slowly stumbled away, trying to grasp his own wound and keep it from bleeding. As he was slowly making his way back to Lyara the dragon knew that they were in a bad place. Aria and Ivarik were still out of their minds, and to make matters worse creatures would continue pouring out of the forest soon to chase after them. Taelas could hear them, they sounded very far away, but he knew that he was just imagining that last bit.

"Taelas are you alright?" Lyara asked coming over to support him. She had gotten up only seconds ago, Aria's attack having drained her. She noticed the wound after she spoke and gasped quickly moving down to inspect it and hoping it wasn't as bad as her eyes were making it out to be.

"I wish that I was." The dragon said falling down to the ground breathing heavily.

"Come on you have to keep moving, we can't stay here!" Lyara pleaded as she tried to rouse him, but she herself didn't have the physical strength to do anything. Even so Taelas was in no shape to move at all.

"I think this might be where it ends Lyara." Taelas said looking down at his wound, and the blood that was slowly oozing out.

"Don't say that, we-

The dragoness' next words were drowned out by a roar that made even the trees bend and sway at its sound.

"Wyvern." She whispered in fear as the sound died away. "Not here, not now!" She said frantically wondering what to do.

"Lyara, forget about us, just go, find Zeke you can still do this, just leave us here." Taelas said weakly, although he was being completely honest.

"I can't just leave you here you will die." Lyara argued, as she searched the woods for the wyvern that they had heard earlier.

"That is the point, but you will get away and you are the only one who can stop Sol and Arum, so go, now!" The dragon growled forcefully.

Lyara couldn't argue anymore as suddenly a lightning bolt flew forward smashing into Taelas making him cry out as he felt the energy sear his body. As the effect faded Lyara noted that Taelas had passed out, that didn't shock her though as she was surprised that he had managed to stay awake for so long with such grievous wounds.

Before she could act on any decision of what to do the dragoness heard another roar this one smaller than that of the wyvern. Everything seemed to freeze as she turned about to see someone who she recognized. There standing not fifty feet from her was Zeke, a dragon who looked more intimidating now than he had before. Everything on his body still remained pristine, and instead of looking weary with age he appeared invigorated as a young adult would. The dragon eyed Lyara, as if not surprised to see her standing there staring back at him in awe. He instead let out a massive roar and went to work.

"Why have you come back?" A voice asked curiously.

"Everything is not right anymore…my brothers-

"The two that were with you before?"

"Yes. They have…changed. They have come here and are seeking to destroy all of the world, so that they can rebuild, start from scratch."

"Then why might you need my help?"

"Zeke, you gave me two talismans once."

"I remember, let me guess you lost them?"

"How did you know?"

"I know many things little goddess."

"Well, Sol and Arum sent them from me magically; I need to know if you could locate them."

"Ugh." Taelas finally managed to groan as his eyes slowly opened up. They were slits at first, but it was only a few seconds before he managed to open them completely. The first thing that he saw was Lyara standing over him her worried eyes scanning him.

"You're awake!" She said delightedly with a smile. "Zeke tried to assure me that with his magic you would be fine, but you still had me worried."

Taelas slowly got up to a sitting position, his sudden energy being somewhat alarming, he would have expected to feel exhausted after sustaining the injuries that he had taken. The dragon felt around his crest looking for his stab wound but found nothing more than a scar.

"You looked pretty bad for a while, but I think I fixed you up alright." Zeke said, Taelas nodding happily. Whatever Zeke had done he was glad that the dragon was on their side.

"For a little bit there I thought that I was going to be alone." Lyara said as she hugged the dragon happily. As the time transpired Taelas stared at the black dragon known as Zeke his eyes watching the two carefully, a strange grin tugging at his mouth, something didn't seem right about him. As if he were hiding something.

"I'm not going anywhere just yet." Taelas said hoping to comfort her as she pulled away quickly seemingly embarrassed about what she had done. "The others haven't woken up yet I assume."

"No, not yet." Lyara said shaking her head her mood suddenly turning blue once more.

"Are they going to be okay?" Taelas asked looking to her, and the large silent dragon for answers. Lyara's change in mood had put him on edge now.

"Zeke tells me that they will be fine. The corruption had a pretty firm grip on them, but it is fading now. According to him it takes about a half-hour before the corruption starts to get inside your head."

"They should recover by tomorrow." Zeke chimed in from across the room.

Taelas nodded to him. "Thank you for saving me and my friends." He said trying to bow, but found that much of the pain in his chest still remained despite the wound being gone.

"It will take some time before you fully overcome that wound and you've no need to thank me, I did what anyone would have. Besides if you all hadn't come along I never would have met up with Lyara again, we are old friends." The dragon said heartily.

"Then if everything is in order I think that I'll go back to sleep, and let you two hash out the details, I would help, but I don't know if I could stay awake." The purple dragon said feeling his head start to lull as he spoke.

"Wait, Taelas!" Lyara said grabbing his leg.

"What? What is it?" The dragon asked looking around as if expecting an attack.

"You can't go to sleep yet, first you have to come with me." Lyara said.

"Where, and can it not wait?" Taelas asked stubbornly as he shook his paw lazily trying to break the dragoness' grasp.

"No, we have to go now. Come on!" She said tugging the reluctant dragon.

"What about the others?" Taelas asked.

"I can look after them." Zeke commented.

"It isn't far; we will be back before you know it." Lyara said squeezing the dragon's arm.

Taelas was about to say something as he could feel her talons painfully digging into his leg, but then he realized how urgent the dragoness sounded. Looking up at her eyes he could see worry and anxiousness there.

"Alright, let's go then." He sighed still trying to sound reluctant and tired so as to not let Zeke catch on to anything.

"Good." Lyara said helping him up. "Zeke we will be back soon." She said, Zeke nodding in response.

The two dragons exited the house, and walked a little ways before saying anything. The whole time Taelas took note of how the small area just around Zeke's home still retained its color and life. The environment looked as welcoming as anything else. Eventually though the terrain turned again to its dull, grey, lifeless self, a shell of what it once was.

"Lyara what is so important, that we had to go now?" Taelas asked after they had left Zeke's home far behind them.

"I, I wanted to see what was left of Salence." She said nervously, not sure how the purple dragon would react. "Also I have something to tell you about Zeke, something that I didn't know about before."

"Alright, can you tell me about Zeke then?" Taelas asked.

"Later first I want to get this business with Salence behind me." Lyara said, and seeing Taelas' questioning look she explained. "Don't worry what I have to tell you isn't anything imperative to our journey."

"If you say so." Taelas said shrugging as he wasn't going to force information he would learn eventually anyway. "Are you sure you will be able to handle what you will see in Salence?"

"I don't know." Lyara said shaking her head an air of nervousness about her. "But Taelas this is something I have to see. Whatever happened to this town happened because of me." She explained taking a deep breath.

"What do you mean?" Taelas asked confused.

"While you were asleep Zeke told me what happened after I left. He said that even though the portal to convexity closed that something stayed, like a poison that had leaked out, it infected the area slowly killing everything. It was the thing that corrupted all of this land. It would still be expanding had Zeke not found a way to stop it." Lyara explained. "Taelas I have to find out what happened, please, you are the only one who can come with me."

"Why is this so important to you?" Taelas asked, immediately regretting the words once he spoke them. "Wait I mean…"

"Go on…" Lyara said giving him the chance to redeem himself.

"I was just wanting to know, why now?" Taelas asked. "I know it is important to you, but is this really the time?"  
"It may be the only time that I have." Lyara said making Taelas worry. "We still have to find the talismans and if we don't then I will die. And besides that, you should know Taelas."

"Know what?" The purple dragon asked.

The dragoness paused as she stopped walking and looked at Taelas in dismay. "Taelas I don't know what will happen when we do defeat Sol and Arum, I might seal my own fate in defeating them. It is likely that I will just disappear."

"Don't say that!" Taelas said forcefully shocking the dragoness who was slowly breaking down emotionally. "You are not going to disappear Lyara, I won't let it happen." He said putting his wing around her and pulling her close.

"Taelas…" She said trailing off, finding comfort in his embrace. "This isn't something you can stop, whatever happens, just promise me you will stay with me until the end."

"Of course." The dragon said softly. "Come on, we still have a town to see." He said ushering her forward keeping her under his leathery wing as they continued along.

"Thank you Taelas, I'm sorry I'm such a mess I should be more collected and-

"Not a word." Taelas cut her off, making the dragoness look at him water in her eyes. "You should know Lyara that no one expects you to be this perfect god figure that we can all rely on to save us. We are in this together, whatever it is. I guess I'm saying that you don't have to take all of this by yourself, you can rely on us."

"But I…thanks." The dragoness said accepting him words and leaning up against Taelas as they continued along.

It wasn't long before the two could see the town of Salence, or rather what still remained of it. The barren landscape had spread to the town, something that both of the dragons had expected. However for the most part besides the lack of any sort of life the settlement remained intact. An eerie looking shell of a once bustling town. Making their way down the dragons walked through the lifeless streets peering into the buildings, but never walking inside them, mostly out of respect, they felt that they should not intrude on whatever was still in the town.

"It looks just like what you told us." Taelas said staring at the buildings, and remembering Lyara's story of the town and her depictions of the structures. Bland small houses and huts, a small town that while meager in its construction still looked slightly cozy even in its current destroyed state.

"Not all of it." Lyara said.

"Well, after the kind of torment this place has seen it is bound to look a little different." Taelas replied.

"Not that, I mean _that_ was never there before." She said nodding her head towards something off in the distance that Taelas knew all too well. The dragon stared down the rugged rocky path at a graveyard, one that was quiet large in fact.

"Come on." She said tugging the dragon with her tail. The purple dragon wanted to say something to dissuade her, as he knew what she would find there, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. She would have to see it now, or it would bother her for the rest of her life.

Reaching the entrance to the graveyard the two came to a large gateway. On the top scrawled into the stone arch were the words "May your souls find your ancestors". Looking to the side of the gateway and finding another sign etched into the stone Taelas began to read.

"Here lies those of us who have been taken by this plague. A horrible curse is befalling this land, something that even we are not immune to. It has claimed many of us already, and it has only been a month since this corrupting spell came over the land." Following the words was a date that Lyara recognized.

"A month after I had left." She said sorrowfully.

"It's okay Lyara you couldn't have known that this would happen. It wasn't your fault."

"Let's just go I have something I need to find." She said walking further into the graveyard Taelas following in silence.

Walking past the gravestones through the large open space the two examined each of the worn stones. Occasionally Lyara would gasp or sigh as she saw a name that she recognized. Taelas forgot that she had lived in the town for a short duration, but over that time she had probably met many of Salence's residents due to her actions in protecting the village.

"Oh." She gasped finally as she came to one of the stones. The sound of her voice was enough to alert Taelas that this was something bigger, someone who was very important to her was buried her. "No, I…" She trailed off.

"What is it?" Taelas asked coming up next to her.

"Its…it's my gravestone." She said sniffling.

"Your gravestone, but-

"They must have thought that I died once I went back to convexity."

"What does it say?" Taelas asked.

"Lyara, a dragoness who fought the wyvern and won, she brought us much happiness that day her disappearance will be mourned, but perhaps she will return to us one day." The dragoness read off of the stone in a gloomy tone.

"Are you alright?" Taelas asked moving a little closer.

"They don't even know that I'm the reason for all of their deaths. I opened that portal I let this corruption out, and that is what killed everyone! I shouldn't be mourned I should be hated or forgotten!" The dragoness cried as she finally lost control.

"Lyara you don't know perhaps it was something else and not you." Taelas said half-heartedly, the evidence was stacked against him on this one.

"Of course it was the corruption Taelas! What else could it have been? Do you think that all of the dragons here just up and died? Are you stupid?" The dragoness asked in a sudden outburst. Taelas didn't respond he just stared back at the silver dragoness, having nothing to say that would help the situation. Lyara however realized what she as the words left her lips. "I'm sorry Taelas, I'm just frustrated is all, all of these people their blood is one my claws."

"It's okay Lyara, you didn't know this would happen, it isn't your fault." Taelas replied as the dragoness collected herself. "And you shouldn't be hated or forgotten, without you all of these dragons would have died by the wyverns. You saved them."

The dragoness sighed, obviously not taking his point to heart. "I still have a grave that I want to look for." The dragoness said as she walked away, and the violet dragon immediately knew which one it was.

"Lyara, you don't have to find it, we can go back." He said.

"No, Taelas this is something that I have to do." She said examining the stones nearest to her. Taelas shook his head, and followed after her as she continued to search. It wasn't long before she found the grave that she was searching for.

"Here lies Valin. Found deceased in the wilds, he was taken much too early, may your ancestors take on your soul." Lyara said before she fell to the ground sobbing. "He died because of me!" She cried despairingly.

"Lyara, it's alright, everything is going to be alright." Taelas said as he laid down next to the dragoness wrapping his wing around her as she cried into his side. Her sobs were the only sounds that could be heard for miles in the dead land.


End file.
